Secretary General Kofi Annan of the United Nations proposed sweeping reforms Sunday, recommending the expansion of the Security Council to reflect modern realities of global power and need, the restructuring of the discredited Human Rights Commission to keep rights violators from becoming members, and the adoption of a definition of terror that would end justifying it as an act of national resistance.

Annan will make the recommendations in a speech Monday to the General Assembly aimed at restoring confidence in the UN that has seriously lapsed because of bitter divisions over the war in Iraq, charges of mismanagement and corruption in the oil for food program and revelations of sexual misconduct by blue-helmeted peacekeepers.

His proposals, drawn from the conclusions of a high-level panel of independent outsiders in November, will be the subject of a special General Assembly gathering in September that hopes to reinvigorate the United Nations at a time when its worth and relevance are being so widely questioned.

The measures were outlined in a 63-page report from Annan entitled "In larger freedom: Toward development, security and human rights for all" released Sunday at the United Nations after details from drafts had emerged over the weekend in The Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post.

Annan said that the Human Rights Commission, which has included Cuba, Libya and Sudan, had been undermined by allowing participation by countries whose purpose was "not to strengthen human rights but to protect themselves against criticism or to criticize others." As a result, "a credibility deficit has developed, which casts a shadow on the reputation of the United Nations system as a whole."

He recommended replacing the 53-nation Human Rights Commission with a smaller Human Rights Council, whose members would not be chosen by regional groups as is now the case but by a two-thirds vote of the 191-nation General Assembly. "Those elected," he said, "should undertake to abide by the highest human rights standards."

Annan called for a definition of terrorism as any act "intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or noncombatants" aimed at intimidating governments, populations or international organizations.

He said that the United Nations should draw up a convention embodying that by the end of this year.

"We must convince all those who may be tempted to support terrorism that it is neither an acceptable nor an effective way to advance their cause," he said.

On Security Council reform, Annan left it up to the General Assembly to decide between two proposals or refinements of them put forward by the high-level panel in November, but he urged the body to reach a decision before the September meeting and to not let failure to achieve consensus on the contentious issue become a reason for postponing action.

The Council now has 5 veto-bearing members - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States - and 10 members elected to two-year terms.

One alternative would add six new permanent members - the likely candidates include Brazil, Germany, India, Japan, Egypt and either Nigeria or South Africa - as well as three new two-year term members. The other would create a new tier of 8 semipermanent members chosen for renewable four-year terms and one additional two-year term seat to the existing 10.

The right to cast vetoes is a power coveted by nations seeking permanent status and is likely to be one they will press for in the coming months despite the fact that under both recommendations, as now written, the veto would remain limited to the five original permanent members.

The report also establishes a policy of "zero tolerance" for sexual exploitation by peacekeepers, a development that Annan said "especially troubled" him. He urged the countries furnishing the troops to prosecute wrongdoers in the absence of any United Nations authority to do so.

Annan said that mandates and personnel had become outdated, and he asked the General Assembly to give him the authority to conduct a one-time buyout "so as to refresh and realign the staff to meet current needs."

Arguing that doubts about the United Nations should not jeopardize its core mission of furthering international security and development, Annan says, "There is a yearning in many quarters for a new consensus on which to base collective action. And a desire exists to make the most far-reaching reforms in the history of the United Nations, so as to equip and resource it to help it advance the 21st century agenda."

The speech on Monday, while making the case for the relevance of a reformed United Nations in the 21st century, will also be seen as a bid by Annan to shore up his stewardship of the institution in his last two years in office. While he has maintained much of his once-vaunted reputation abroad, he has come under pointed criticism in Washington where some members of Congress have called on him to resign before completing his term in office at the end of 2006.

The report recommended the creation of a peace-building body for societies recovering after conflicts, and reiterated the United Nations goal of seeing developed nations set aside 0.7 percent of their gross national income for development aid.

Source: IHT