UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in a report to be presented to the General Assembly next Monday, shows no preference for a high-level panel's two options for the powerful Security Council's expansion, diplomats said Thursday.

In the report, Annan urges countries to consider the two options, which were put forward by a panel of prominent figures in December, said the diplomats, who have read the 61-page much-awaited report. The panel was hand-picked by Annan to advise him on UN reforms.

One option provides for six new permanent seats, with no veto being created, and the other creates a new category of eight four-year so-called semi-permanent seats. In his report, Annan neither offers any new model for the council enlargement, nor mentions any candidates.

According to the diplomats, Annan wants the General Assembly to make a decision on the long-delayed council reforms before world leaders gather in New York to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the world body.

The Security Council is currently composed of five permanent members -- the United States, Russia, France, Britain and China --and 10 elected members with a two-year term.

Annan also proposes upgrading the 53-nation Geneva-based Commission on Human Rights, which is currently a subsidiary to the Economic and Social Council, to a smaller "Human Rights Council," said the diplomats, who asked not to be named.

All members on the new council will be elected directly by a two-thirds majority of the General Assembly and those elected to the council "should undertake to abide by the highest human rights standards," they said.

Seats of the human rights commission are allotted to the various UN regional groupings and its members are elected by the 54-nation Economic and Social Council. Traditionally, the seats are rotating among nations of these groupings.

The diplomats quoted Annan as saying that the commission's capacity to perform its tasks "has been increasingly undermined by its declining credibility and professionalism."

Annan is scheduled to introduce the report, dubbed "In Larger Freedom Toward Security, Development and Human Rights for All," at a plenary session of the assembly Monday morning. He will give a press conference after the session.

Source: Xinhua