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UN Reform

Prof. Philip YangNational Taiwan University

Initiatives Since the late 1990s there have been

many calls for reform of the UN. However, there is little clarity or consensus about what reform might mean in practice.

An official reform program was initiated by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan shortly after starting his first term January 1, 1997.

Kofi Annan's Report on UN Reform: In Larger Freedom (March 21, 2005)

Towards development, security and human rights , eloquently catalogues the global challenges of the international community in the 21st century.

Kofi Annan's Report on UN Reform

ranging from greater investment in developing countries to steps to fight catastrophic terrorism and collective action against genocide and ethnic cleansing.

Kofi Annan's Report on UN Reform

ranging from greater investment in developing countries to steps to fight catastrophic terrorism and collective action against genocide and ethnic cleansing.

Kofi Annan's Report on UN ReformI. Freedom from want

1.National strategies: Each developing country with extreme poverty should by 2006 adopt and begin to implement a national development strategy bold enough to meet the MDG targets for 2015.

2.Financing for development: Global development assistance must be more than doubled over the next few years.

3.Trade: The Doha round of trade negotiations should fulfill its development promise and be completed no later than 2006.

4.Debt relief: Debt sustainability should be redefined as the level of debt that allows a country to achieve the MDGs and to reach 2015 without an increase in debt ratios.

Kofi Annan's Report on UN ReformII. Freedom from fear 1. Preventing catastrophic terrorism:

States should commit to a comprehensive anti-terrorism strategy based on five pillars.

2.Nuclear, chemical and biological weapons: Progress on both disarmament and non-proliferation are essential.

3.Reducing the prevalence and risk of war: Member States should create an inter-governmental Peacebuilding Commission, as well as a Peacebuilding Support Office within the UN Secretariat.

4.Use of force: The Security Council should adopt a resolution setting out the principles to be applied in decisions relating to the use of force

Kofi Annan's Report on UN ReformIII. Freedom to live in dignity 1.Rule of law: The international

community should embrace the “responsibility to protect”, as a basis for collective action against genocide, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.

2.Human rights: The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights should be strengthened

Kofi Annan's Report on UN Reform

3.Democracy: A Democracy Fund should be created at the UN to provide assistance to countries seeking to establish or strengthen their democracy.

Kofi Annan's Report on UN Reform IV. Strengthening the United Nations 1.General Assembly: The General

Assembly should take bold measures to streamline its agenda and speed up the deliberative process.

2.Security Council: The Security Council should be broadly representative of the realities of power in today’s world.

Kofi Annan's Report on UN Reform 3.Economic and Social Council: The

Economic and Social Council should be reformed so that it can effectively assess progress in the UN’s development agenda

4.The Secretariat: The Secretary-General will take steps to re-align the Secretariat’s structure to match the priorities outlined in the report, and will create a cabinet-style decision-making mechanism.

Kofi Annan's Report on UN Reform 5.Proposed Human Rights Council:

The Commission on Human Rights suffers from declining credibility and professionalism, and is in need of major reform. It should be replaced by a smaller standing Human Rights Council, as a principal organ of the United Nations or subsidiary of the General Assembly, whose members would be elected directly by the General Assembly, by a two-thirds majority of members present and voting.

Security Council reform

Reforming the SC is key to successful reform of UN, as SC is the most powerful organization within the UN.

SC reform usually refers to schemes to restructure or expand its membership.

Security Council reformCriticism : SC membership does not reflect

today’s world ； developing countries are under-presented, and there are no permanent members form either Africa or Latin America.

Five permanent members enjoy veto power and frequently abuse their privileges

There is a lack of transparency and efficiency in the SC’s decision-making process.

Security Council reformI.Increasing membership In Larger Freedom: Kofi Annan called on

the UN to reach a consensus on expanding the council to 24 members and urged Member States to consider the two options, models A and B.

Model A calls for creating six new permanent members, plus three new nonpermanent members for a total of 24 seats in the council.

Model B calls for creating eight new seats in a new class of members, who would serve for four years, subject to renewal, plus one nonpermanent seat, also for a total of 24.

Security Council reformI. Increasing membership G4 nations: The countries who have made

the strongest demands for permanent seats are Brazil, Germany, India and Japan.

Uniting for Consensus: five UN member countries, Argentina, Italy, Canada, Colombia and Pakistan, representing a larger group of countries proposed to General Assembly another project that maintains five permanent members, and raises the number of non-permanent members to 20.

Security Council reformII.Veto Reform Reason: the five permanent members no longer

represent the most stable and responsible member states in the United Nations, and that their veto power slows down and even prevents important decisions being made on matters of international peace and security.

Security Council reform

II.Veto ReformProposal: cancel or ask for restriction of the

use of the veto to vital national security issues; requiring agreement from multiple states before exercising the veto; and abolishing the veto entirely.

Security Council reformII.Veto ReformDifficulty: Articles 108 and 109 of the UN Chater

grant the P5 veto over any amendments to the Charter, requiring them to approve of any modifications to the UNSC veto power that they themselves hold. They will not agree to give up their veto power easily.

Human rights reform The United Nations Commission on

Human Rights came under fire during its existence for the high-profile positions it gave to member states that did not guarantee the human rights of their own citizens.

Several nations known to have been guilty of gross violations of human rights became members of the organization, such as Libya, Cuba, Sudan, Algeria, and Vietnam.

Human Rights Council On Wednesday, 15 March

2006, the United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly in favour of establishing a new United Nations Human Rights Council, the successor to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.

Discussion Question The UN needs reform. On that

everyone agrees. But there is sharp disagreement on what kind of reform is needed and for what purpose. What reform of the UN do you think is required? For what purpose? What obstacles do you see standing in the way of this reform?