Key points of Kofi Annan's report on UN reform

The following are major points of the report prepared by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan for UN reforms.

Security

-- A UN Security Council resolution laying out guidelines for the use of pre-emptive and preventive force and other military means in resolving issues of international peace and security.

-- A universal definition of terrorism.

-- The conclusion by UN member states of a convention for fighting nuclear terrorism, followed by a comprehensive convention on terrorism by the end of September 2006.

-- The creation of a special UN rapporteur to report on the compatibility of counter-terrorism measures with international human rights laws.

-- A reaffirmation by member states of their commitment to a moratorium on nuclear test explosions, leading to the eventual enforcement of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

-- Guaranteeing supplies of nuclear fuel for civilian use to non-nuclear weapon states, as an incentive to prevent them from developing domestic unranium-enrichment and plutonium-separation capacities.

-- The creation of an inter-governmental "Peacebuilding Commission" to help countries emerging from conflict with their transition from war "to lasting peace."

UN Structural Reform

-- Expansion of the UN Security Council from 15 to 24 members, using one of two formulas to be chosen before a summit of world leaders in New York in September this year.

-- A streamlining of the UN General Assembly's agenda and committee structures to rationalize and speed up the decision-making process.

Human Rights

-- Replacement of the existing UN Commission on Human Rights with a smaller standing Human Rights Council, whose members would be directly elected by the General Assembly.

Development

-- Each developing country should, by 2006, adopt and begin to implement a national strategy for meeting the Millenium Development Goals of poverty and hunger alleviation by 2015.

-- The international community must urgently provide the resources needed for an expanded and comprehensive response to the scourge of HIV/AIDS, as well as the spread of tuberculosis and malaria.

-- The launch this year of an International Finance Facility allowing developing countries to borrow money now against commitments of future overseas development aid.

-- A redefintion of debt sustainability as the level of debt that allows a county to achieve the Millenium Development Goals and reach 2015 without an increase in debt ratios.

-- The Doha round of multilateral trade negotiations should fulfill its development promise and be completed no later than 2006. As a first step, member states should provide duty-free and quota-free market access for all exports from the least developed countries.

Natural Disasters

-- The establishment of a worldwide early warning system for all natural hazards, building on existing national and regional capacity.