In Larger Freedom: Towards Development, Security and Human Rights for All, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, March 21, 2005 [a five-year progress report on the Millenium Declaration [UN text] on international and UN policy goals]. Excerpt from Annan's remarks introducing the report to the UN General Assembly:

What I am proposing amounts to a comprehensive strategy. It gives equal weight and attention to the three great purposes of this Organization: development, security and human rights, all of which must be underpinned by the rule of law. Some states may think that we should give priority to one of those purposes over the others; and within each of them, many states will have their particular preferences…

I ask developing countries to improve their governance, uphold the rule of law, combat corruption and adopt an inclusive approach to development, making space for civil society and the private sector to play their full part. The challenge of development is too big for governments to face it alone. And I ask every developed country to support these strategies, by increasing the amount it spends on development and debt relief, and doing whatever it can to level the playing-field for world trade….

I ask all states to agree on a new security consensus, by which they commit themselves to treat any threat to one of them as a threat to all, and to work together to prevent catastrophic terrorism, stop the proliferation of deadly weapons, end civil wars, and build lasting peace in war-torn countries. Among my specific proposals in this area, I ask all states to complete, sign and implement the comprehensive convention on terrorism, based on a clear and agreed definition, as well as the convention on nuclear terrorism, and the fissile material cut-off treaty. I also ask member states to agree to establish a Peacebuilding Commission, within the United Nations, to help countries make the transition from war to lasting peace…

I urge all states to agree to strengthen the rule of law, human rights and democracy in concrete ways. In particular, I ask them to embrace the principle of the "Responsibility to Protect", as a basis for collective action against genocide, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity — recognising that this responsibility lies first and foremost with each individual state, but also that, if national authorities are unable or unwilling to protect their citizens, the responsibility then shifts to the international community; and that, in the last resort, the United Nations Security Council may take enforcement action according to the Charter. Among other measures, I also ask all states to ratify, and implement, all treaties relating to the protection of civilians; and to agree to, and within their means contribute to, a Democracy Fund at the United Nations, which would provide funding and technical assistance to countries seeking to establish or strengthen their democracy….

In the final part of the report, on "Strengthening the United Nations", I set out proposals for making this Organization the instrument through which all its member states can agree on the strategies outlined in the first three parts, and help each other to implement them. This reflects my long-held view that, in order to do its job, the United Nations must be brought fully into line with today's realities. It can and must be a representative and efficient world organization, open and accountable to the public as well as to governments.

I start with proposals for the revitalisation of this Assembly — to which the Millennium Declaration rightly assigned a central position as the chief deliberative, policy-making and representative organ of the United Nations, but which in recent times has suffered from declining prestige, and has not made the contribution that it should to our activities. I am asking your heads of state and government to reverse this by instructing you to adopt, at your 60th session, a comprehensive package of reforms; by resolving to focus your agenda on major substantive issues of the day; and by establishing mechanisms through which you can engage fully and systematically with civil society, as recommended in the Cardoso Report.

I then recommend a system of three Councils, covering respectively, (a) international peace and security, (b) economic and social issues, and (c) human rights. This reflects the priorities set out in the earlier parts of the report, on which I believe there is broad consensus.

The first two of these Councils already exist, of course, but need to be strengthened. The third requires a far-reaching overhaul and upgrading of our human rights machinery.

First, I urge member states to make the Security Council more broadly representative of the international community as a whole, as well as of the geopolitical realities of today.

This important issue has been discussed for too long. I believe member states should agree to take a decision on it — preferably by consensus, but in any case before the summit — making use of one or other of the options presented in the report of the High-Level Panel.

And I suggest that the renewed Security Council should make clear, in a resolution, the principles by which it intends to be guided when deciding whether to authorize or mandate the use of force.

Secondly, I make proposals for enabling the Economic and Social Council, whose functions are clearly relevant to our all-important development agenda, to play the leading role that should be expected of it, in making and implementing coherent United Nations policies for development.

And thirdly, I ask member states to create a new Council to fulfil one of the primary purposes of the Organization, which clearly now requires more effective operational structures — the promotion of human rights. This would replace the present Commission on Human Rights, whose capacity to perform its tasks has been undermined by its declining credibility and professionalism. The Human Rights Council, I suggest, should be smaller than the Commission, and elected directly by a two-thirds majority of this Assembly….

View the report website, read the executive summary {PDF], and review the full text of the report [PDF].