2004-12-3
I'm Steve Ember with In the News in VOA Special English.
A high-level United Nations committee has released a report about
reforming the world organization. The committee presented the report
to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan Thursday.
Mister Annan appointed the sixteen-member group a year ago. He
did so because of sharp divisions over the American-led war in Iraq,
which the Security Council refused to approve. Former Thai Prime
Minister Anand Panyarachun led the group.
The committee's report contains
one hundred one proposals. They call for several steps designed to
make the Security Council more effective. The report is considered
the biggest reform effort since the U.N. was founded in nineteen
forty-five.
The report identified six areas as the greatest threats to
worldwide security and proposed ways to deal with them. These are
continued poverty and environmental destruction, terrorism, civil
war, conflict between countries, the spread of nuclear weapons and
organized crime.
The group also proposed a definition of terrorism. That is an
effort the U.N. General Assembly has tried unsuccessfully to do for
years.
The most divisive issue was the proposed enlargement of the
U.N.'s most powerful group, the Security Council. The committee
presented two proposals.
Both proposals would increase the size of the Council from
fifteen to twenty-four members. One proposal would add six new
permanent members -- two from Africa, two from Asia and one each
from Europe and the Americas. Three additional members would be
elected for two-year terms.
The other proposal would create eight temporary members chosen
for four-year terms and open to re-election. They would include two
each from Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas. An additional
non-permanent seat would also be created.
Currently, the Security Council has five permanent members and
ten temporary members with terms of two years each. The five
permanent members are the United States, Russia, China, Britain, and
France. These countries can veto resolutions. Neither proposal would
extend veto powers to any new Security Council members.
The report also proposed guidelines to establish when the use of
force is necessary. The committee decided there is no need to change
the U-N charter, which permits the use of force for self-defense to
prevent an immediate threat. However, it said any good argument for
preventive military action should be put to the Security Council in
the future.
Secretary General Annan wants to use the report as a basis for a
plan he will present to the General Assembly in March. But Mister
Annan's leadership is being questioned because of charges of
dishonesty in the U.N. oil for food program in Iraq.
A United States senator has called for his resignation. President
Bush on Thursday called for a full investigation into the program.
In the News, in VOA Special English, was written by Cynthia Kirk.
This is Steve Ember.