HIGH-LEVEL PANEL REPORT: The United Nations on Tuesday proposed the most
sweeping changes in its history, recommending the overhaul of its top
decision-making group, the Security Council, and holding out the
possibility that it could grant legitimacy to pre-emptive military strikes.
In its most attention-getting recommendation, the panel called for an
expansion of the Security Council to 24 members from 15. But the panel was
unable to agree on one proposal and ended up suggesting two options. (NYT)
The 95-page report lays out a new vision for collective action to tackle
threats to global security and puts “a more proactive” Security Council at
the heart of a revitalised United Nations. (AP)
The panel challenged the Bush administration’s right to use military
force against an enemy that does not pose an imminent military threat. (WP)
But the panel acknowledged that the UN should do more to deal with
terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. (Times, London) The panel of 16
“wise men” challenged America’s claim to have a right unilaterally to take
“preventive” military action against looming threats. “There is little
evident international acceptance of the idea of security being best
preserved by a balance of power or by any single–even benignly
motivated–superpower,” said the panel. (Daily Telegraph, London)
All countries should sign and ratify the statute of the International
Criminal Court, a high-level United Nations panel will demand later this
week, and the UN Security Council should be far more ready to refer
wrongdoers to international criminal justice. But the advice on the court
is likely to infuriate the US, which has opposed it both through the UN and
through bilateral agreements. And Washington’s support is seen as crucial
to the success of any UN reform. (FT)
The UN reform panel is tending towards a Security Council reform
model whereby the council is expanded by 8 semi-permanent members, elected
for four years; the panel feels that the majority of UN states supports
this model. Germany would thus not achieve the goal of getting a permanent
seat. (Berliner Zeitung)
New permanent members of the United Nations’ Security Council should
have the same veto power as the current members, a top Japanese official
said Wednesday, disputing a high-level international panel’s recent
recommendations. (AP) China and South Korea remained cautious toward
Japan’s bid to become a permanent member of the Security Council during a
trilateral summit in the Laotian capital Monday, officials said.
(Herald/Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo)
India has been shortchanged by a report intended to overhaul the UN
set-up. Though placed at the high table, among the Security Council’s six
new permanent members, the report’s recommendations do not confer it a
veto, making any place on the Council a “mere detail.” Why should a
country aspire for permanent status unless it gains the power of veto? (The
Statesman, Kolkata)
Yesterday the UN unveiled a sweeping proposal to overhaul the
organization, including the Security Council, in what would be the biggest
UN reform since its founding in 1945. Its release had been scheduled for
today but was suddenly fast-forwarded. A coincidence, perhaps, but amid so
much pressure, anything that shifts attention away from his other troubles
will surely be a welcome respite for Kofi Annan. (National Post, Canada)
The US has shaken the UN Charter to the point of collapse. Where does
that leave the international community? This week we shall see the report
of the high level group, which will guide us towards rules which fit the
world not of 1945 but of 2004. Annan is right to try, but whatever changes
might eventually be contrived at the UN, the foundations of an
international community in the next few years will essentially be regional.
We need in every major region valid partnerships which include the US,
writes Douglas Hurd. (FT, Op-Ed)
The long-awaited Report arrives at a very inopportune moment for Kofi
Annan.Can a Secretary-General whom Americans do not like, who first reacted
at the oil-for-food scandal with reluctance only to admit, later on, his
son’s conflict of interest, succeed in reforming the world body in the
remaining 24 months of his mandate? Will the Panel members manage to divert
the attention of the American right-wing–already threatening to slash the
US contributions to the UN by 10 percent because of the scandal? (La
Repubblica, Rome, ed) Kofi Annan is trying to do all he can in the
difficult task of reforming the Security Council, aware that this may be
his last chance to save his reputation and rescue the UN from a bottomless
pit. (El Mundo, Spain)
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Notes:
(AP): Associated Press;
(NYT): New York Times;
(WT): Washington Post;
(FT): Financial Times
