Annan repeats call for UN reforms

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, November 29, 2003

Annan repeats call for UN reforms

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Friday reiterated the urgency of reforming the rules of the international system and the United Nations.

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United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Friday reiterated the urgency of reforming the rules of the international system and the United Nations.

"The events of the past year have shaken the foundations of collective security, and undermined confidence in the possibility of collective responses to our common problems and challenges," Annan said in a message to a meeting of Nobel peace laureates in Rome.

In the message delivered by chief of UN Information Center Shalini Dewan, Annan said that deep divergences of opinion have come to the fore on the range and nature of the challenges we face,and are likely to face in the future.

"While a strong consensus on development was forged, three years ago, in the Millennium Declaration -- most notably in the form of the Millennium Development Goals -- the consensus on peaceand security expressed or implied in the declaration looks less solid than it did then," he explained.

"It is with that in mind that I have called for a comprehensive review of the international system, to see how it might need to beadapted to cope with the threats and challenges of the new century."

Annan noted that he had appointed a high-level panel to study threats to peace and security, including those in the economic and social realms, and consider the contribution that collective action could make in responding to those threats.

He said that based on proposals from the panel, he would make his own recommendations to the next session of the UN General Assembly in 2004.

"The ultimate decisions -- decisions to modify the rules of the system, or the institutions that manage it -- can only be taken by the members states," he stressed.

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