Secretary-General Kofi Annan calls for the creation of a human rights council, a decision on the Security Council's expansion by September and a binding resolution on rules for the use of force, in a major report to be presented to the General Assembly Monday on revitalizing the United Nations.

In the highly-awaited 63-page report, a copy of which was obtained by Xinhua, Annan also proposes ways to address poverty, infectious diseases and other concerns of the developing world, and urges the international community to reach a new security consensus based on realities of an increasingly globalized world.

An eight-page annex to the report contains Annan's major recommendations on which he hopes world leaders will make decisions at a UN summit in September. Annan has hoped that the 60th anniversary of the United Nations' birth will serve as a springboard to reinvent the world body to better meet the challenges of today's world.

"These are reforms that are within reach -- reforms that are actionable if we can garner the necessary political will," he says. "With very few exceptions, this is an agenda of highest priorities for September."

The most notable proposal in the report is for countries to treat the cause of human rights as seriously as those of security and development.

"Not only are security, development, and human rights all imperative; they also reinforce each other," Annan declares. "We will not enjoy security without development, we will not enjoy development without security, and we will not enjoy either without respect for human rights."

He says the Geneva-based Human Rights Commission's "capacity to perform its tasks has been increasingly undermined by its declining credibility and professionalism" and is therefore "in urgent need of major reform."

Under Annan's proposal, the 53-nation Human Rights Commission, which is currently under the Economic and Social Council, would be upgraded to a smaller Human Rights Council, whose members would be elected directly by the General Assembly.

While stressing members on the new council "should undertake to abide by the highest human rights standards," Annan does not set criteria for selecting them.

Currently, members of the Human Rights Commission are elected by the 54-nation Economic and Social Council. The commission's seats are allotted to various UN regional groupings and traditionally rotating among nations of these groupings.

The report, titled "In Larger Freedom: Towards Security, Development and Human Rights for All," draws heavily from recommendations put forward by a high-level panel in December on strengthening global collective security mechanism.

It also absorbs suggestions from global economic experts on realizing the millennium development goals, which include cutting in half the number of people living in poverty by 2015.

The report calls on developed countries to set timetables for fulfilling pledges to allocate 0.7 percent of their gross national income for official development assistance. So far, only six rich countries have met that target.

On the most contentious issue of the Security Council reforms, Annan does not show any preference for the two options drawn up by the high-level panel. One option provides for six new permanent seats, with no veto being created, and the other creates a new category of eight four-year renewable-term seats.

Reiterating his belief that "no reform of the United Nations would be completed without reform of the Security Council," he urges the General Assembly to make a decision on the 15-nation council's enlargement before the September UN summit.

"It would be far 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."

Annan also requests the Security Council to adopt a resolution laying out principles for the use of force, including pre-emptive military action. The proposal is aimed at averting a repeat of the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 without the UN approval.

Other suggestions Annan will make public include setting up a peacebuilding commission to help post-conflict societies restore lasting peace, and establishing a UN democracy fund to assist emerging democracies.

Annan, who has been at the helm of the United Nations for eight years, has vowed to spend his remaining two years as secretary-general pushing reforms of the world body, which has been long criticized by pros and cons. It remains unknown how many proposals of his will be supported by the 191 UN member states.

Source: Xinhua