Secretary General Kofi Annan's Reform Proposal for Administration of the United Nations

To offset criticism and restore the United Nations to a sound financial footing that most members would likely fund, Secretary-General Kofi Annan pleaded in 1998, "Give us the tools and we will do the job." His pleas were heard, and he won acceptance for nearly all of his proposals to reorganize and streamline the many UN agencies under his authority. The cost-saving reforms "downsized" the organizational chart under a cabinet-style managerial chain of command, including the appointment of a French Canadian, Youise Prechette, as the first Deputy Secretary General in the UN’s history. The reform package reorganized the UN's huge network of separate agencies, as this administrative restructuring chart prepared by the UN shows.

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The un Specialised Agencies

The UN specialized agencies work in such diverse areas as health, agriculture, international aviation and meteorology. Related to the UN through special agreements, the specialized agencies coordinate their work with the UN, but are separate, autonomous organizations.

The UN, its programmes and funds, and the specialized agencies compose the "UN system". As a family of organizations, the UN performs a vast range of duties that affect the lives of all of us in myriad ways. These range from the decision of the Security Council to dispatch a peacekeeping operation in response to a dispute, to setting standards for air safety and communications compatibility; from rushing emergency supplies to victims of natural disaster, to coordinating the response to the AIDS pandemic; from helping countries to carry out free and fair elections, to securing low-interest loans to develop the infrastructures of poorer countries. Ultimately, its work is about making a healthier, more stable world with enhanced opportunities and justice for all of us.

Autonomous organizations joined to the UN through special agreements:

Ilo (International Labour Organization)

Formulates policies and programmes to improve working conditions and employment opportunities, and sets labour standards used by countries around the world.

FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN)

Works to improve agricultural productivity and food security, and to better the living standards of rural populations.

UNESCO (UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization)

Promotes education for all, cultural development, protection of the world's natural and cultural heritage, international cooperation in science, press freedom and communication.

WHO (World Health Organization)

Coordinates programmes aimed at solving health problems and the attainment by all people of the highest possible level of health. It works in areas such as immunization, health education and the provision of essential drugs.

World Bank group

Provides loans and technical assistance to developing countries to reduce poverty and advance sustainable economic growth.

IMF (International Monetary Fund)

Facilitates international monetary cooperation and financial stability and provides a permanent forum for consultation, advice and assistance on financial issues.

ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization)

Sets international standards for the safety, security and efficiency of air transport and serves as the coordinator for international cooperation in all areas of civil aviation.

UPU (Universal Postal Union)

Establishes international regulations for postal services, provides technical assistance and promotes cooperation in postal matters.

ITU (International Telecommunication Union)

Fosters international cooperation to improve telecommunications of all kinds, coordinates usage of radio and TV frequencies, promotes safety measures and conducts research.

WMO (World Meteorological Organization)

Promotes scientific research on the Earth's atmosphere and on climate change and facilitates the global exchange of meteorological data.

IMO (International Maritime Organization)

Works to improve international shipping procedures, raise standards in marine safety and reduce marine pollution by ships.

WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization)

Promotes international protection of intellectual property and fosters cooperation on copyrights, trademarks, industrial designs and patents.

IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development)

Mobilizes financial resources to raise food production and nutrition levels among the poor in developing countries.

UNIDO (UN Industrial Development Organization)

Promotes the industrial advancement of developing countries through technical assistance, advisory services and training.

Courage to fulfil our responsibilities

(by Secretary General Kofi Annan, the Economist December 4^th, 2004)

At the beginning of the 21^st century, we face a world of extraordinary interconnectedness. We are all vulnerable to new security threats, and to old threats that are evolving in complex and unpredictable ways. Either we allow this array of threats, and our responses to them, to divide us, or we come together to take effective action to meet all of them on the basis of a shared commitment to collective security.

Late last year, convinced that the time had come for a fundamental review of our collective security system, I established a High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change. I asked its 16 members – eminent people, representing many nations and points of view – to analyze the threats to peace and security our world faces; to evaluate how well our existing policies and institutions are meeting them; and to recommend changes to those policies and institutions, so as to ensure an effective collective response to those threats.

Their report, "A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility" which I received this week follows a year of consultations around the world. It makes 101 far-sighted but realistic recommendations. If acted on, they would address the security concerns of all states, ensure that the UN works better, strengthen the international rule of law and make all people safer.

A world of interconnected threats

We must first agree on the threats we face. Today, any event or process that leads to deaths on a large scale or the lessening of life chances, and which undermines states as the basic unit of the international system, should be viewed as a threat to internationals peace and security.

According to the panel, six clusters of threats fall under that rubric:

• economic and social threats, including poverty and deadly infectious disease;

• inter-state conflict and rivalry;

• internal violence, including civil war;

• state collapse and genocide;

• nuclear, radiological, chemical and biochemical weapons;

• terrorism;

• transnational organized crime;

Today, these threats are interconnected to an unprecedented degree, and no state acting alone can defeat them. The panel report spells out the dangers with horrifying clarity. With the amount of highly enriched uranium that could fit into six milk cartoons, a terrorist could improvise a nuclear devise to level a medium-size city. A nuclear attack on such a city in the United States or Europe would have staggering costs for the world economy. According to the World Bank, the attacks of September 11^th, 2001 cost more than $80 billion dollars and pushed 11m people in developing countries into poverty. The economic fallout from a nuclear terrorist attack would dwarf these numbers. Given the relationship between poverty and infant mortality, we could count the cost of a nuclear terrorist attack in a rich country in two terrible death tolls: in the attacked city and in poor nations all over the world.

Likewise the security of developed countries is only as strong as the ability of poor states to respond to and contain a new deadly infectious disease. As the panel notes, the incubation period for most infectious diseases is longer than most international air flights. As a result, any one of the 700m people who travel on airlines in a year could unwittingly carry a lethal virus to an unsuspecting country. The 1918 influenza epidemic killed twice as many people in one year as HIV/AIDS has killed in the past 28 years. Today, a similar virus could kill tens of millions in a fraction of the time.

So, in today's world any threat to one is truly a threat to all. This principle, once applied only to military attacks by one state against another, should be extended to all categories of threats we face. And since there are real limits on self-protection, all states share an interest in a collective-security system that commits all of them to act co-operatively against these dangers.

Getting serious about prevention

Given the gravity and interconnectedness of today's threats, our world needs to be far more committed to prevention. Prevention, if properly resourced and broadly supported, can be highly effective. The panel report reminds us that in 1963, many thought that 25 – 50 states would possess nuclear weapons by this year; the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty has helped prevent this. The World Health Organization, which led efforts to eradicate smallpox and roll back the threat of polio, recently helped halt the spread of SARS³⁵ and save the lives of tens of thousands of people.

The best agents of prevention are capable states exercising their sovereignty responsibly, dealing with internal dangers before they threaten others, and acting collectively with other states to meet threats on a global scale.

And our best preventive strategy is to support development. Committing resources to achieve the Millennium development Goals agreed in 2000 is the best security investment states can make. It will save lives in poor countries, reduce violent conflicts and the appeal of radicalism, and holster the ability of states to deal with threats before they can cause real harm.

The dangers of inadequate preventive action are powerfully illustrated by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. In the face of a lamentably slow and ineffective global response, the disease has killed 20m people in as many years, and it continues to spread. Tragically, the worst is yet to come. Its ultimate cost will be measured not just in lives, but in shattered societies. Despite greater international resolve in recent years, we are still not taking all the steps needed to bring the disease under control.

We also need a major initiative to build public-health capacities in the developing world. If diseases can be treated and, better still, prevented at local level, not only the poorer countries will benefit. The whole world will acquire better defenses against bio-terrorism and large-scale natural epidemics. And the Security Council should work closely with the World Health Organization to strengthen biological security through prompt, effective responses to such outbreaks.

Equally critical is greater collective action on environmental degradation – from a long-term strategy to reduce global warming, going beyond the periods covered by the Kyoto Protocol, to better management of natural resources in countries that are at risk.

Countering terrorism

Prevention is also a vital part of any effective strategy to protect people against terrorism. Terrorism is not new. What is new is the range, scale and intensity if the threat. Today, one terror network, Al-Qaeda, has the capacity to kill around the world, and has struck in more than ten UN member-states in the past few years. In addition, the prospect that terrorism could acquire instruments of massive destruction creates unprecedented dangers.

The UN must make better use of its assets in the fight against terrorism. It should articulate an effective and principled counter-terrorism strategy that is respectful of the rule of law and universal human rights. But first – a significant problem – terrorism must be defined. One of panel's signal achievements is to offer such a definition, agreed to by all the panelists. It would define terrorism as any action intended to kill or seriously harm civilians or non-combatants, with the purpose of intimidating a population or compelling action by a government or international organization. States should use this definition to build consensus and strengthen the UN's response to this deadly scourge.

The report also makes urgent recommendations on non-proliferation, disarmament and curbing the supply of dangerous materials to reduce the risk of nuclear, chemical or biological attacks by states or terrorist groups. States must be encouraged to give up the development of domestic uranium enrichment, and be urged to take part in a voluntary time-limited moratorium on the construction of reprocessing plants. The International Atomic Energy Agency's ability to monitor compliance with the Non-Proliferation Treaty should be strengthened, using the standards in the treaty's additional protocol for safeguards inspections.

Civil and interstate wars

Since the end of the cold war, the UN has become far more engaged in preventing and ending civil wars, and it has continued its long-standing role of working to stop wars between states. As the panel points out, more civil wars have been brought to an end through negotiation since 1990 than in the 200 years before that. Through successes and failures, we have developed expertise and learned hard lessons.

As the demand for UN blue helmets continues to grow, we need to boost the supply of peacekeepers to avoid repeating some of the worst failures of the 1990s. Wealthy states should hasten their efforts to transform existing forces into contingents suitable for peace operations, and put them at the disposal of the UN. We must also invest in mediation and support the implementation of peace agreements. The report stresses the importance of demobilizing combatants and reintegrating them into civil life. If this is not done, civil wars cannot be successfully brought to an end, and other critical goals – democracy, justice and development – will remain unmet.

Time and again, the international community has lost focus once the high point of a crisis has passes or peacekeepers have left a country. I welcome the panel's proposal to help deal with this problem: the creation by the Security Council of a Peacekeeping Commission, which would give the organization a strategic focus for its work in countries under stress or emerging from conflict.

The use of force

Prevention or peaceful dispute-resolution will sometimes fail. When it does, we must be able to rely on the use of force. No matter what the cause, the report proposes five basic guidelines that all states and the Security Council should bear in mind in deciding whether to do so:

Seriousness of threat: Is the threat serious enough to justify prima facie the use of force?

Proper purpose: is the primary purpose of the proposed use of force to halt or avert the threat in question?

Last resort: Has every non-military option been explored and exhausted?

Proportional means: Is the force proposed the minimum necessary to meet the threat?

Balance of consequences: Is it clear that the consequences of action will not be worse than the consequences of inaction?

The report sees no need to amend Article 51 of the UN Charter, which preserves the right of all states to act in self-defence against armed attack, including the right to take pre-emptive action against an imminent threat.

However, in the new security environment in which we live, states may also fear threats that are neither imminent not proximate, but which could culminate in horrific violence if left to fester. The Security Council is already fully empowered by the Charter to deal with these threats. It must be prepared to do so, taking decisive action earlier than in the past, when asked to act by states that have based their claims on reliable evidence.

The question of action to protect civilians inside states has long been fraught with controversy. Yet it is being recognized more and more widely that the question is better framed not as one of a right to intervene, but of our responsibility to protect – a responsibility borne, first and foremost, by states. The panel members, whose background and experience vary widely, have agreed that the principle of non-intervention in internal affairs cannot be used to protect those who commit genocide, large-scale ethnic cleansing, or other comparable atrocities. I hope UN members will share that view – and that the Security Council will act on it.

A new United Nations

What does the panel's report mean for the UN? The organization is now nearly 60 years old. It was born in a very different time and designed for a very different world. It has an under-appreciated record of adapting to new dangers – take, for instance, its peacekeeping efforts in civil wars around the world, and its response to the attacks of September 2001. But it clearly needs far-reaching reform if it is to prevent and respond to all the threats that we face today.

Some propose that a collective response through the UN is too difficult or not necessary. But action taken to meet threats always has an impact beyond the immediate context, and all states benefit from a shared global framework. That does not mean that the UN needs to do everything. Indeed, as a matter of good policy and sheer practicality, the UN must learn to share burdens, welcoming help form others and working hand in hand with them. I am pleased that it is already doing so – and that the panel's report makes sensible recommendations to strengthen the UN's partnership with regional organizations and individual member-states.

Inevitably, great attention will fall on the question of Security Council reform. What are the objectives of such reform? They surely must be to make the council more effective and authoritative. The idea of permanent membership was devised to ensure the active engagement of the big powers of 60 years ago in the maintenance of international peace and security. Whether we need new permanent members is a matter of controversy and debate.

The report offers two formulae for consideration by member states, both of which would expand membership to 24, and would have the same goals: to bring into the council's deliberations those who contribute most to the organizations financially, military and diplomatically; to ensure that the council broadly represents the membership of the UN as a whole; and not to expand the veto, which would render decision-making more difficult. The panel's proposals offer a chance for a breakthrough on this vital issue in the year ahead. If these recommendations are acted upon, the Security Council would be more representative of our world, and better equipped to take decisive action.

We also need a strengthened UN Secretariat, one that can support the new Peacebuilding Commission and implement more effectively the decisions of the Security Council and other inter-governmental bodies on everything from peacekeeping operations to mediating civil wars. The report envisages a secretariat that is come concerted it is action, and in which the Secretary-General has more responsibility of management and greater accountability.

An equally important proposal is to overhaul the Economic and Social Council, to strengthen its role in social development and in improving knowledge about the economic and social dimensions of security threats. The report also recommends changes to make the Human Rights Commission a better defender of the human rights of people everywhere.

Time to decide

In his last annual address to Congress in January 1945, Franklin Roosevelt, then America's president, alluded to his plans to create a new collective security institution, the United Nations, had gave warning that: "In our disillusionment after the last war, we gave up the hope of achieving a better peace because we had not the courage to fulfil our responsibilities in an admittedly imperfect world."

Almost exactly 60 years later, we once again find ourselves mired in disillusionment, in an all too imperfect world. It is easy to stand at the sidelines and criticize. And we could talk endlessly about UN reform. But our world no longer has that luxury, the time has come to adapt our collective security system, so that it works efficiently, effectively and equitably.

Next year, UN member-states will be reviewing progress in implementing the Millennium Declaration adopted in 2000, culminating in a summit of world leaders in New York in September. This will be an appropriate moment for them to act on some of the most important recommendations in the panel's report, which require decisions at the highest levels of government.

I fervently hope that world leaders will rise to this challenge. In the past three years we have all lived through a period of deep division and somber reflection. We must make 2005 a year of bold decision. As the panel simply puts it: "We all share responsibility for each other's security". Let us summon the courage to fulfil that responsibility.

Suggested Topics For Discussion

1. The UN: a glance at history.

2. Speak about the current activities of any of the UN main organs.

3. Find information about the issues considered at the year 2000 session of the General Assembly and speak about some of them.

4. Find out about the recent decisions of the Security Council and the way they are implemented.

5. Get ready to speak about some of the urgent issues currently facing the Security Council.

6. Discuss some of the attempts at reforming the United Nations.

7. Find out how much the UN (the UN system) costs and how it is funded.

8. Discuss some of the controversial issues associated with the UN.

9. Prepare a profile of any specialized agency of the UN.

10. Speak about the way Russia (the USA, the UK, etc.) participates in the work of the United Nations.

11. Visit the UN official site and find out about UN-related events this/next week.