Secretary-general Kofi Annan Mildly Optimistic after UN Summit

In his September 19 Op/Ed in the Wall Street Journal , Secretary-general Kofi Annan writes about his wish to pursue further reform after the United Nations world summit.  While Mr. Annan's recommendations for a new UN Human Rights Council were accepted, the secretary-general expressed concern that the new council will not be a significant improvement over the current Human Rights Commission. 

"Nations that believe strongly in human rights must work hard to ensure that the new body marks a real change,” Mr. Annan implored.

In an Op/Ed entitled “A Glass at Least Half Full” Mr. Annan provided an overall assessment of the summit that was positive. In response to criticisms that the “outcome document” was "watered down,” he argued that many significant objectives were achieved.  He included "unambiguous commitments” toward the goals of the Millennium Summit, the doubling of the budget for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, “an unqualified condemnation” of terrorism, “collective responsibility” to protect against genocide and proposals management reform as positive advances the summit made.  Mr. Annan also called for the need to reform the Security Council so that it represented today's world.  The biggest challenge he identified was the failure of the summit to address nuclear proliferation.

Source:

"A Glass At Least Half Full” by Kofi Annan in the Wall Street Journal :

http://www.un.org/News/ossg/sg/stories/articleFull.asp?TID=49&Type=Article