Kofi Annan's reform strategy for the UN

Some reforms of the United Nations were long overdue. The world body, created in 1945 "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war", has grown from 51 to an astounding 191 members. Simultaneously, the global power structure has changed drastically, and so have the threats and challenges. It may be recalled that, in view of widespread demand for reform of the UN, Kofi Annan had constituted a 16-member high-level panel of independent experts under the chairmanship of the former Thai Premier Anand Panyarachun in 2003. The group, which included eminent persons from different regions of the world, submitted an exhaustive report in last November. After months of careful consideration of that report, Kofi Annan formulated his reform plan and presented it on Tuesday.

Recent sharp and bitter divisions over the Iraq war, charges of corruption and mismanagement in the oil for food programme, human rights violations in Sudan and elsewhere, and revelations of sexual exploitations by some UN peace keepers in Congo, also created new imperatives for the restoration of UN's credibility.

On the sensitive issue of expansion of the Security Council, Annan announced his desire to raise the Council membership to 24 from the existing 15. However, he left it to the world leaders to decide between the two options recommended by the panel: (a) to add 6 new permanent members as well as 3 new two-year term members, or (b) to create a new tier of 8 semi-permanent members chosen for renewable four-year terms and 1 additional two-year term seat added to the existing ten. Importantly, the right to cast vetoes under both the options has been kept restricted to the original five Permanent Members, that is, United States, Britain, France, Russia and China. The last expansion of the Council, incidentally, had taken place in 1965, when the size of the council had been raised from 10 to 15.

The prime contenders for the Permanent membership -- Brazil, Germany, India, and Japan (commonly known as big 4) -- as well as other aspirants like Egypt, and Nigeria / South Africa would obviously prefer the first option and if possible, with veto powers like the original five. In the past their bid for permanent membership, however, had been opposed by their archrivals in their respective regions, that is Argentina, Italy, Pakistan and South Korea. How the challengers would react to the latest proposals remain to be seen. But one thing is certain; there would be hard bargaining and tough negotiations on the expansion proposals at the UN. Annan, however, has urged members to reach a consensus, and not to postpone action on this vital issue.

Annan underscored the imperatives not to jeopardise the core mission of the United Nations of furthering international security and development. He proposed that the Security Council should come up with a new set of guidelines to determine when military action can be authorised, an issue that has sharply divided the entire membership. In an apparent reference to the Bush administration's doctrine of preemptive strikes to protect American interests, Annan said, "In today's world, no state, however powerful, can protect itself on its own."

Washington will be skeptical about this proposal, but will certainly appreciate his pronouncements on the sensitive issue of terrorism. Annan endorsed the revised definition of terrorism as "any action intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants with the purpose of intimidating a population or compelling a government or an international organisation to do or abstain from doing any act." He said that a convention underlining these concerns should be drawn up by year-end so that those who are "tempted to support terrorism" are made aware that such a policy is neither acceptable nor an effective way to advance their cause.

He emphasised the divergent perceptions about common threats to security in different parts of the world. At the same time, he noted that a nuclear terrorist attack on the United States or Europe would have devastating effects on the whole world, but so would the appearance of a new virulent pandemic disease in a poor country with no effective controlling mechanism. He stressed that the world must respond as vigorously and collectively to HIV/AIDS and poverty as it does to terrorism and proliferation of weapons.

Turning to development issues, he reminded the developing countries to improve their governance, combat corruption, and adopt an inclusive approach to development to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). At the same time, he urged developed countries to increase the amount they allocate on development and debt relief, to give immediate duty-free and quota-free market access to all exports from least developed countries, and commit to themselves to spending 0.7 per cent of their gross domestic product on official development assistance by 2015.

The UN Chief expressed concern at the membership of some regular violators in the UN Human Rights Commission (UNHRC), which he thought had created a "credibility deficit", thereby adversely affecting the reputation of the UN system as a whole. He suggested that the existing 53-member Commission should be replaced by a smaller Human Rights Council; the membership of this Council would be elected not on the existing basis of regional endorsements but by a two-thirds majority in the General Assembly so that those elected "should undertake to abide by the highest human rights standard".

United States and some western countries have always opposed membership of countries like Cuba, Libya and Sudan in the UNHRC. Naturally, Annan's proposal will please them, but Third World members could perhaps perceive this proposal as a western move to interfere in their internal affairs on the pretext of human rights question. How far they can be persuaded to go along with this radical reform will be seen in the coming months.

The panel had also outlined a policy for severely dealing with any "sexual exploitation" by the UN peacekeepers. Annan has been concerned about this recent development in Congo, and he had urged the member countries contributing troops to prosecute wrong doers in the absence of any UN authority to do so.

He mentioned that the mandates of the UN personnel had become outdated, and asked the UNGA to authorise him to conduct a one-time buyout authority "so as to refresh and realign the staff to meet the current needs".

How will the global community react to Kofi Annan's comprehensive reform package? Well, he has warned countries against treating the list of proposals "as an a la carte menu, and select only those that you especially fancy." However, getting world leaders to agree on the package will not be easy, as many countries sharply differ on key issues, ranging from the reform of the powerful UN Security Council to the creation of a new Human Rights Council to increasing development assistance to poor countries. The US media has questioned the timing of his proposal, coming just before the release of the report of the Paul Volcker Commission, which has been investigating corruption charges against Annan and his son, Kojo in the scandal-ridden UN oil-for-food programme in Iraq. His Chief of staff, Mark Malloch Brown, however, has dismissed all media speculations. Nonetheless, many will view the Secretary General's reform package as a bid to restore his once-vaunted reputation during his last two years in office.

How should Bangladesh deal with this important reform package? We have always asked for reforms of the General Assembly and Security Council to enhance their effectiveness and to reflect the changing realities in the global scenario. At the same time, we had pointed out that the consultations for the reform process should be broad-based and not be guided by perceived interests of the few.

Given this parameter, the best option for Bangladesh on the expansion of the Security Council would be to go along with the NAM position, which primarily views the Council reform process as a composite package encompassing both expanded membership and democratisation of the decision-making process. The mainstream NAM members are, reportedly, leaning towards the second option of semi-permanent members in order to maintain some degree of leverage on the newly inducted permanent members. If that is true, then Bangladesh should have no difficulty in joining this group.

As the largest Least Developed Country, Bangladesh should give priority attention to Annan's comments on the development issues. It should be self-evident by now that international peace and security are no longer threatened by political issues alone but also by economic issues, rooted in underdevelopment, economic deprivation, social exclusion and entrenched poverty. In recent years, the entire global attention on the poverty question has been focused on Africa. The African countries, largely due to their numerical strength and collective bargaining, have successfully projected their desperate plight. The reality is that more people under the poverty line live in South Asia than in any other region in the world. Bangladesh has to highlight the existence of widespread poverty in South Asia with a view to getting donors' support for the SAARC poverty-alleviation programme. The Millennium Development Goals of the last decade have largely remained unfulfilled, and we should strongly endorse the Secretary General's call to developed countries to increase development assistance and debt relief, grant of immediate duty-free and quota-free market access to all LDC exports, and raising their ODA.

On human rights, terrorism and other sensitive issues, Bangladesh would be well advised to consult and cooperate with other countries in the region as well as with other like-minded NAM and OIC countries. On the question of renewal of mandate of UN personnel, we should play a more pro-active role highlighting that competence and efficiency should be the principal criteria for selection of officials. The anniversary summit is only six months away, and there would be lots of tough bargaining and horse-trading at the UN during the upcoming summer months.

It is absolutely essential that Bangladesh should be viewed as an active participant in these deliberations and negotiations. As we embark on this arduous task to protect our national interest, we should remember the age-old adage, "When the going gets tough, the tough gets going".

Syed Muazzem Ali is a former Foreign Secretary.