Key Elements of U.N. Draft Document


By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: September 13, 2005

Reprinted by Israeli & Global News

The U.N. General Assembly adopted a draft document for world leaders to adopt at a summit at the United Nations that begins Wednesday. Some key elements of the document:

-- Resolves to create a Human Rights Council that would promote universal respect for human rights. But it drops proposals for members to be elected by a two-thirds majority in the General Assembly and doesn't bar known rights violators.

-- Backs Annan's call for an internal ethics office and asks that the internal U.N. watchdog, the Office of Internal Oversight Services, be strengthened "as a matter of urgency."

-- Creates a peacebuilding commission, envisioned as an advisory body that would help nations emerging from war to recover.

-- Seeks a comprehensive terrorism convention but doesn't call for a definition of terrorism that rules out attacks on civilians, as Secretary-General Kofi Annan had wanted.

-- Includes 16 pages on development, including support for the Millennium Development Goals and those countries that set aside 0.7 percent of gross national product for development aid.

-- Nations should work together to protect civilians from genocide but creates no new obligations to intervene in such cases, as some nations had sought.

-- Elements that were taken out include language on nonproliferation and disarmament, as well as a mention of the International Criminal Court.