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| International-UN-NGOs |
| Kofi's list for Santa |
| 2005-03-20 |
| • The latest: Seeking to overshadow a year of scandals at the United Nations, Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Sunday proposed the most sweeping changes in its 60-year history, saying they would better enable the world body to stop war, fight terrorists, combat poverty and protect human rights. The 191 members of the General Assembly will meet in six months to consider the proposals, which include: • Human Rights Council: This would replace the Geneva-based Commission on Human Rights and would possibly serve as a principal organ of the United Nations such as the Security Council. The U.N. has long faced criticism for allowing the worst-offending countries to use their U.N. membership to protect them from condemnation. • Security Council: The council would be expanded, but Annan did not endorse a specific plan, instead backing two options proposed in December. One would add six new permanent members to the current five-member board and the other would create a new tier of eight semi-permanent members. • When to act: Use of force should be guided by a set of clear principles, and it urged all states to accept that in cases of genocide, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity, there is a "responsibility to protect" which requires action. • Security: Nations should approve a convention against terrorism by September 2006, based on a new definition. Nations should swiftly adopt a global treaty against nuclear terrorism, and negotiate a treaty to halt the spread of the highly enriched uranium and plutonium needed to make nuclear weapons. • Development: Rich countries should establish a timetable to reach the goal set 35 years ago of earmarking 0.7 percent of gross national product for development assistance by 2015. The United States has one of the lowest levels -- about 0.15 percent. • Poverty: Developing countries must adopt a program by 2006 to cut extreme poverty in half, ensure primary education for all children, improve health care and reverse the AIDS pandemic, all by |
| Posted by:Mrs. Davis |
| #1 What Goo-fi should be asking Santa Claus for, on behalf of the UN, is relevance. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-03-20 10:17:11 PM |