Kofi Annan's UN "Reforms"

Kofi Annan’s proposed “reforms” at the UN remind me of most Democrats’ idea of “tax reform” (which typically consists of nothing more than raising taxes). Kofi’s 63-page report is an obvious attempt to deflect the rampant corruption within the UN and to create the impression it knows the necessary fix. And all this just a week before Paul Volcker is set to give an interim report about the Oil-for-Food scandal. Instead, the main result of his “reforms” is to increase in the size, power and cost of the UN. He wants the U.S. to quadruple its funding to .7% of GNP so the UN can distribute it to the developing world..

While Claudia Rossett points out a few of the noble ideas, including a reform of the Human Rights Commission and the Security Council and an international definition of terrorism (which many will never accept), she correctly highlights the proposals’ larger problems:

Mr. Annan forges on to propose nothing less than reforming the entire known universe, via the U.N., while he bangs the drum for a budget to match. He wants to expand his own staff, change the world's climate, end organized crime, eliminate all private weapons, and double U.N.-directed development aid to the tune of at least $100 billion a year, "front-loaded," for his detailed plan to end world poverty.

Fred Gedrich, a former U.S. State Department official, addressed one of the real problems with the UN that needs to be addressed:

A prime reason for U.N. ineffectiveness is because 102 of 191 U.N. members do not have truly free and democratic governments. Fully 47 members are dictatorships and six are terrorist states. They have forged alliances among themselves and the U.N.'s largest voting bloc…This circumstance explains why the U.N. did not stop dictators and thugs from murdering millions of innocents in places like Iraq, Rwanda and Sudan.

If Kofi really wants reform at the UN, he should start with his own resignation rather than increasing his power.