UNITED NATIONS, March 20: Secretary-General Kofi Annan called on the United Nations on Sunday to expand the Security Council from 15 to 24 members and scrap the Commission on Human Rights as part of a package of sweeping reforms at the world body. Mr Annan, in a report to be delivered on Monday to the 191-nation UN General Assembly, also waded into the debate over the invasion of Iraq, calling on the Security Council to set out rules for when it should authorize the use of military force. However, in the use of force as well as in reform of the Security Council, Mr Annan did not set out his own recommendations, leaving these questions to UN members.

Mr Annan’s plan aims to preserve the United Nations as the focus of global multilateral action and also to respond to growing criticism of the United Nations, fuelled by allegations of mismanagement of the 67-billion dollar oil-for-food plan for Iraq.

Before they can take effect, the reforms must be endorsed by world leaders attending a UN summit in September and then by the General Assembly.

The United Nations has come under increased scrutiny since the US decision to invade Iraq without Security Council approval. Several conservative US lawmakers have called for Mr Annan to resign and a number of congressional committees and a UN-appointed panel are investigating the oil-for-food plan.

US President George Bush recently nominated John Bolton, an outspoken critic of both multilateral action and the United Nations, as his pick for US ambassador to the body.

Mr Annan’s report said the UN Human Rights Commission, accused by critics of increasingly defending despots rather than cracking down on them due to the way its members are chosen, should be replaced with a new Human Rights Council, whose members would be elected by a two-thirds vote of the General Assembly.

He also proposed creation of a peace-building commission to help the international community rebuild nations shattered by war, and of a democracy fund to promote that form of government around the world.

The United Nations further should embrace a “responsibility to protect” that would authorize international action including the use of force when nations are unwilling or unable to protect their own citizens, Mr Annan said.—Reuters