The General Assembly unanimously approved a scaled-down statement of goals Tuesday that Secretary-General Kofi Annan said would still give world leaders gathering yesterday a basis for recommendations to reform the organization and combat poverty.
Loud cheers from the delegates, however, could not disguise widespread disappointment at the weakening of the 35-page document.
When Annan first proposed the statement it represented an ambitious blueprint for attempting to balance the concerns of great powers over security, human rights and management efficiency with the developing world's needs for increased assistance and measures to cut poverty. In the end, virtually every section underwent severe cutbacks.
"Obviously we didn't get everything we wanted. With 191 member states, it's not easy to get an agreement," Annan said. "But," he added, "we can build on it."
He noted that it represented progress in setting up a human rights council to replace the discredited human rights commission and a new peace-building commission. He also singled out language on how to fight terrorism and establish means for international intervention when countries failed to protect their citizens from genocide.
KOFI complains
He complained pointedly, however, about the elimination in the final version of language covering nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament, labeling the exclusion a "disgrace" at a time when the world feared a spread of unconventional weapons.
John Bolton, the US ambassador, said the US was satisfied with the outcome, which he said matched the limited hopes he had had for the document.
"It would be wrong to claim more than is realistic and accurate about what these reforms are," he said. "They represent steps forward, but this is not the alpha and omega, and we never thought it would be."
The General Assembly vote ended three weeks of tense talks at which regional rivalries and national ambitions succeeded in scuttling attempts by a majority of nations to act in the broader UN's interest. The ongoing debate exposed in high profile the kind of indecisiveness that the document was supposed to address.
"There were governments that were not willing to make the concessions necessary, there were spoilers also in the group, let's be quite honest about that," Annan said. In his discussions with member states, he said, "I've tried to get them to understand that in our interconnected world, we need to look at issues in much broader terms rather than narrow national interests."
In answer to a question, he said he wished voting procedures could be changed so that a small minority of nations could not block the will of a large majority, as has occurred during recent weeks.
Fierce critic
Bolton, a vocal critic of the organization's practices, seized on the events to say, "This is the way the UN operates. And it goes to the question, which is a much longer-term question, as to whether the culture of decision-making at the UN is the most effective for the organization and that's something that's not going to be resolved today or tomorrow."
The three-day meeting is expected to attract more than 170 presidents and prime ministers in what the UN is calling the largest gathering of world leaders in history.
The document they will be asked to approve does create a human rights council, but it leaves out any mention of its size and duties and drops language proposing that membership be subject to a two-thirds vote of the General Assembly.
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