Annan calls for deal by world leaders on poverty, security and human rights
20 March 2005 – In a new report released today, Secretary-General Kofi Annan put forward a comprehensive deal for
tackling poverty, security threats and human rights abuses while overhauling the United Nations through a set of
recommendations slated for action by national leaders when they gather to mark the world body's sixtieth anniversary
later this year.
Taking its name from a phrase in the UN Charter the report, In Larger Freedom marks the culmination of a process Mr.
Annan has initiated to realign the world body in this milestone year so that it can better respond to today's pressing
challenges.
If acted on, the proposals – ranging from a nine-member increase in the Security Council's membership to the
establishment of a new Human Rights Council – would mark the most dramatic change in the UN's functioning ever achieved
at once.
The report, the full text of which can be accessed at www.un.org/largerfreedom , argues that this seismic shift is warranted by the interrelated imperatives at stake. “[W]e will not enjoy
development without security, we will not enjoy security without development, and we will not enjoy either without
respect for human rights,” Mr. Annan warns. “We can and must act together.”
The report's first main section, “Freedom from want,” deals with the deadly toll of poverty, which currently plagues
more than a billion people in a world beset by growing inequality. “A single bite from a malaria-bearing mosquito is
enough to end a child's life for want of a bed net or $1 treatment,” the Secretary-General points out. He adds that
while this sad reality has long been viewed as an inescapable aspect of the human condition, that view is now
“intellectually and morally indefensible.”
In order to achieve the far-reaching Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – a set of anti-poverty targets agreed to by
world leaders at a 2000 UN summit – he proposes that all developed States allocate 0.7 per cent of their gross national
income to official development assistance by no later than 2015, with significant increases by 2006.
Calling climate change “one of the greatest environmental and developmental challenges of the twenty-first century,” Mr.
Annan notes that the Kyoto Protocol, a pact that contains binding targets for the emissions that cause climate change,
only extends until 2012. He calls for developing a more inclusive framework beyond that date with broader participation
by all major emitters and both developed and developing countries.
In the second main section, “Freedom from fear,” the Secretary-General endorses a report he commissioned by a high-level
panel on threats, challenges and change. “I fully embrace the broad vision that the report articulates and its case for
a more comprehensive concept of collective security: one that tackles new threats and old and that addresses the
security concerns of all States.”
Specifically, he backs the panel's definition of terrorism – an issue so divisive agreement on it has long eluded the
international community – stating unequivocally that “any action constitutes terrorism if it is intended to cause death
or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants with the purpose of intimidating a population or compelling a
government or an international organization to do or abstain from doing any act.”
This proposal has “clear moral force,” he says, urging world leaders to back it and conclude a comprehensive terrorism
treaty during the next General Assembly session.
The report's other security proposals include a call for a fissile material cut-off treaty aimed at reducing the risk of
nuclear proliferation, and the creation of a UN Peacebuilding Council to help countries emerging from conflict.
The report's third main section, “Freedom to live in dignity,” deals with human rights and democracy. The
Secretary-General recommends replacing the current Commission on Human Rights with a standing Human Rights Council whose
members are elected directly by the General Assembly and who “undertake to abide by the highest human rights standards.”
He also calls for the creation of a democracy fund to help countries in need and pledges to galvanize UN efforts in this
field.
The last main section deals with strengthening the UN and sets out measures to improve its workings, including reforming
the Security Council. Here again, Mr. Annan backs the high-level panel, which outlined two possible models for
increasing the Council's membership in order to make it more representative and inclusive.
Model A provides for six new permanent seats, with no veto, and three new two-year term, non-permanent seats, divided
among the major regional areas. Model B provides for no new permanent seats but creates a new category of eight
four-year, renewable-term seats and one new two-year, non-permanent (and non-renewable) seat, divided among the major
regional areas.
Although Security Council reform has been discussed at the UN for decades, the issue is so complex and politically
sensitive that agreement has been impossible. Seeking to break the deadlock, Mr. Annan urges realistic action. “It would
be preferable for Member States to take this vital decision by consensus,” he says, “but if they are unable to reach
consensus this must not become an excuse for postponing action.”
The report also contains a number of proposals for improving the UN Secretariat. “Today's United Nations staff must be:
(a) aligned with the new substantive challenges of the twenty-first century; (b) empowered to manage complex global
operations; and (c) held accountable,” the Secretary-General declares.
In order to foster progress on this front, Mr. Annan requests that the General Assembly give him the authority and
resources to offer a one-time buyout for UN personnel “so as to refresh and realign the staff to meet current needs.”
Urging countries to act on the deal offered in the report, he says it is both necessary and achievable. “What I have
called for here is possible,” he says. “From pragmatic beginnings could emerge a visionary change of direction in our
world.”
ENDS