UN summit document

World leaders adopted a 35-page document at a summit at the United Nations yesterday.

Some key elements of the document:

:: Resolves to create a Human Rights Council by September 2006 that would promote universal respect for human rights. But it drops proposals for members to be elected by a two-thirds majority in the General Assembly and doesn’t bar known rights violators.

:: Backs Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s call for an internal ethics office and asks that the internal UN watchdog, the Office of Internal Oversight Services, be strengthened “as a matter of urgency.” But it doesn’t give Annan the authority to move jobs and make management changes that the US, the European Union and others sought.

:: Creates a Peacebuilding Commission to help nations emerging from war recover. It did not solve the issue of whether it reports to the Security Council or the General Assembly.

:: Condemns “terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, committed by whomever, wherever and for whatever purpose …” Seeks a comprehensive terrorism convention but doesn’t call for a definition of terrorism that rules out attacks on civilians, as Annan had wanted.

:: Includes 16 pages on development, including a commitment by all governments to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. It drops a call for countries that haven’t done so, which include the US, “to make concrete efforts” to achieve the target of earmarking 0.7% of GDP to development assistance.

:: Calls on nations to work together to protect civilians from genocide, war crimes and ethnic cleansing, but creates no new obligations to intervene in such cases, as some nations had sought.

:: Creates a larger fund to ensure that relief arrives immediately after disasters.

:: Elements that were taken out include language on non-proliferation and disarmament, a call for discussion of principles for the use of force by the Security Council as well as a mention of the International Criminal Court.