ANNA CHALLENGES WORLD LEADERS

On September 21st, Kofi Annan, the Secretary General of the United Nations, and President George Bush spoke to the UN General Assembly. Although President Bush's speech received more media coverage in the United States, it will be the Secretary General's warning to world leaders that will most likely be recalled by historians.

President Bush's speech was primarily aimed at voters in the United States. It highlighted the United States' initiatives on HIV/AIDS, condemned the situation in Darfur, and presented an overly-optimistic assessment of U.S. nation-building efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Ultimately, it offered little new material and, at least with respect to Iraq, contradicted the CIA's assessment of the situation contained in a recent National Intelligence Estimate.  To read more about recent events in Iraq, click here.

Kofi Annan, on the other hand, warned the assembled dignitaries that "we have reached a fork in the road. If you, the political leaders of the world, cannot agree or reach agreement on the way forward, history will take the decisions for you." Moreover, he delivered a powerful defense of the UN and the rule of law. He challenged the assembled world leaders to strengthen the UN so that it could meet the challenges of the 21st century and warned against allowing the UN to be weakened. "Let's not imagine that . . . we will find any more effective instrument" than the United Nations for solving the world's problems.

Annan argued, first, that the rule of law is central to protecting the people of the world from human rights violations, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide. He noted, in a veiled criticism of the United States, that, without the rule of law, "might mak[es] right" and that a just system is one where the rule of law is respected by the rich as well as the poor, the powerful as well as the weak.

The Secretary General said that only the fair and consistent application of the rule of law could prevent tragedies like the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Darfur. "Every nation that proclaims the rule of law at home must respect it abroad; and every nation that insists on it abroad must enforce it at home."

He then argued that the United Nations is critical to the consistent and fair application of the rule of law. While all states "need a framework of fair rules which each can be confident that others will obey," just such a framework exists in the "norms and laws" which the United Nations has created. He called the creation of international law one of the UN's "proudest achievements."

Annan acknowledged that international law is "riddled with gaps" and that many countries believe that it is applied unfairly and ineffectively. However, he argued that it is only by strengthening international law and by filling in the gaps that "we can and, and must, fulfill our responsibility to protect innocent civilians from genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes."

The world needs the UN as a place "to seek common solutions to common problems." He called for "bold decisions" from the world's leaders on the difficult problems facing the organization, including how to maintain international peace and security, and how to address poverty and disease in the developing world.

Last year before the General Assembly, Annan announced the creation of a "High Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change" that is scheduled to report back to him this December with a series of proposals that could reshape the way the UN operates and makes decisions.  To read more about UN Reform, click here. If world leaders ignore the findings of the High Level Panel, it is possible that history will take the power to make meaningful decisions out of their hands.

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