Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged world leaders Monday to implement the boldest changes to the United Nations in its 60-year history by expanding the size of the Security Council, tackling conflicts and terrorism, and strengthening protections for human rights.
...One of the major proposals in the package [PDF] calls for a new Human Rights Council as a major U.N. organ - possibly on a par with the Security Council - to replace the Geneva-based Commission on Human Rights. That panel has long faced criticism for allowing the worst-offending countries to use their membership to protect one another from condemnation.
"The creation of the council would accord human rights a more authoritative position," and put it on the same level as security and development, Annan said.
Annan also called for an expansion of the U.N. Security Council to reflect the global realities today, but he left the details to the General Assembly. He urged its members to decide on a plan before the September summit, preferably by consensus, but if that's impossible by a vote.
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