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| Sunday, 28 November 2004 |
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Blue-ribbon panel to recommend UN Security Council reform UNITED NATIONS, Saturday (AFP) A blue-ribbon committee was set to release a much-awaited report recommending the Security Council grow from 15 to 24 members, but with two proposed models for assigning the seats, diplomats told AFP. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan named the High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change to study ways the body could better face today's world. Former Thai prime minister Anand Panyarachun chairs the 16-member panel, which is due to deliver its report on December 2. Annan wants to submit the reform proposals to the UN General Assembly for adoption in time for the 60th anniversary of the United Nations. According to information supplied by several diplomats, the report recommends two models for reforming the Security Council, the principal UN decision-making body. The sources said the two models are based on a new distribution of the member countries into four geographic groups: Africa, Europe (Western and Eastern), the Americas (North and South) and Asia (including Australia and New Zealand). As things stand, the 191 UN member nations are divided into five regions. The United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand form part of the "west" with Western Europe, while former Soviet-bloc countries are part of a different group. The two proposed models would chose six representatives from each group for the council, for a total of 24 members. The current Security Council has 15 members, five of which are permanent, each with a veto over matters brought before the body: Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States. The other 10 rotating members are chosen by their geographic group for a nonrenewable two-year period. |
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