UN Chief Wants More Rights Muscle

The United Nations needs a new, permanent human rights body if it is to prevent appalling suffering happening around the world, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Thursday.

Speaking at the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva, Annan said the 53-nation body is failing to stop human rights abuses, particularly in Sudan's conflict-ravaged Darfur region, and should be replaced by a council with greater authority.

"We have reached a point at which the commission's declining credibility has cast a shadow on the reputation of the United Nations system as a whole, and where piecemeal reforms will not be enough," Annan told delegates.

"The commission's ability to perform its tasks has been overtaken by new needs, and undermined by the politicization of its sessions and the selectivity of its work," Annan said.

As part of a package of reforms unveiled last month, the secretary-general proposed a human rights council to replace the present commission. The new council would be a permanent body, possibly on a par with the Security Council.

As a standing organ of the United Nations, the body would able to meet when necessary, addressing human rights violations as they arise. At present, the commission can only address issues during its annual six-week session.

"Today we have reached another moment when we must prove our commitment," Annan said. "A human rights council would offer a fresh start."

Council members would be elected directly by the General Assembly by a two-thirds majority and fulfill specific human rights criteria, according to the proposed reforms.

Under U.N. rules, members of the commission have been picked by regional groups. Current member states that have been criticized themselves for abuses include China, Cuba, Nepal, Russia, Sudan and Zimbabwe. Several other countries with poor human rights records have been on the commission over the years, and Libya has even held the chair.
A number of countries and campaigners have pushed for more stringent eligibility criteria for the top U.N. human rights watchdog. Two years ago, the United States walked out of the commission's meeting to protest Cuba's re-election, which it called "an outrage."

"The new human rights council must be a society of the committed. It must be more accountable and more representative," Annan said. "Ultimately it would produce more effective assistance and protections, and that is the yardstick by which we should be measured."

Annan singled out human rights abuses in Darfur, saying that the situation there is a test for the United Nations, "as individuals and as an institution."

Last year, the commission voted 50-1, with 2 abstentions, to express concern about the situation in Darfur, but stopped short of formal condemnation of Sudan. Even formal censure by the commission involves no penalties, but at least draws attention to a country's record.

An estimated 180,000 people have died in the upheaval, mostly from disease and starvation, and about 2 million others have been displaced since the conflict began in February 2003.

Annan welcomed a U.N. resolution — agreed by the Security Council last week — demanding that Sudanese accused of war crimes in Darfur be tried in an international court, but said that the global response to human rights abuses needs "to scale up to meet the growing challenges that confront us."

"For thousands of men, women and children (in Darfur), our response is already too late," Annan said.
By Bradley S. Klapper