Panel proposes sweeping reform of UN, sets criteria for use of force

A panel of eminent persons has recommended far-reaching changes to boost the United Nations' ability to deal effectively with major global threats and insistedthat any preventive war on non-imminent threats, such as the US-led invasion of Iraq, needs to be approved by the Security Council.

The recommendations, contained in a 95-page report to be officially launched on Thursday, were produced by the 16-member panel after a year of deliberations. The panel was appointed in November 2003 by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to identify majorthreats to humankind in the 21st century and propose ways of reforming the world body.

Annan was prompted to take the move after the United States launched an invasion of Iraq in March 2003 without the UN's authorization, dealing a heavy blow to the world body's authority.

The panel said threats humankind is facing nowadays have already gone beyond states waging aggressive wars to poverty, infectious diseases and environmental degradation; terrorism; civil war; weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) and organized crime.

These new threats are more than ever interrelated and "no state,no matter how powerful, can by its own efforts alone make itself invulnerable to today's threats," it stressed, adding that the current collective security system needs to be strengthened in responding to these threats.

The report affirmed the right of states to defend themselves, including pre-emptively when an attack is truly imminent, and saidthat, in cases involving terrorists and WMDs, the Security Councilmay have to act earlier, more pro-actively and more decisively than in the past.

The panel also endorsed the idea of a collective responsibilityto protect civilians from genocide, ethnic cleansing and comparable atrocities, saying that the wider international community should intervene -- acting preventively where possible --when countries are unwilling or unable to fulfill their responsibility to their citizens.

The panel said, however, that if force is needed, it should be used as a last resort and authorized by the Security Council. The report listed five criteria to guide the council in its decisions over whether to authorize force: seriousness of threats, proper purpose, whether it is a last resort, whether proportional means are used, and whether military action is likely to have better or worse results than inaction.

In an unprecedented move, the panel defined terrorism as any action "that is intended to cause death or seriously bodily harm to civilian or noncombatants." It called on states to step up their efforts to draw up an international convention on terrorism.

It also urged the creation of a peacebuilding commission under the Security Council to identify countries at risk of violent conflicts, organize prevention efforts and sustain international peacebuilding efforts.

The report noted that major changes are needed in UN bodies to make them more effective, efficient and equitable, including universal membership for the Geneva-based Commission on Human Rights. Such a move would underscore the commitment of all membersto the promotion of human rights, and might help focus attention back on the substantive issues rather than the politicking currently engulfing the commission.

The panel proposed increasing from 15 to 24 members on the Security Council to reflect the change of power balance and the UNmembership.

Also included in the report's 101 recommendations are proposalsto strengthen development efforts, public health capacity and the current nuclear non-proliferation regime, which the panel said is not as effective a constraint as it was previously because of the lack of compliance, threats to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), a changing security environment and the diffusion of technology.

The panel's chair, former Thai Prime Minister Anand Panyarachun,said the report "puts forward a new vision of collective security, one that addresses all of the major threats to international peaceand security felt around the world."

Source: Xinhua