SECRETARY-GENERAL NAMES HIGH-LEVEL PANEL TO STUDY GLOBAL SECURITY THREATS, AND RECOMMEND NECESSARY CHANGES

SECRETARY-GENERAL NAMES HIGH-LEVEL PANEL TO STUDY GLOBAL SECURITY THREATS,

AND RECOMMEND NECESSARY CHANGES

Secretary-General Kofi Annan today named Anand Panyarachun, former Prime Minister of Thailand, to chair the High-level Panel on global security threats and reform of the international system, which he had announced in his speech to the General Assembly on 23 September.

Mr. Annan announced the membership of the 16-member Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change in a letter dated 3 November addressed to the President of the General Assembly, Julian Robert Hunte (Saint Lucia).  He recalled that the Panel is “tasked with examining the major threats and challenges the world faces in the broad field of peace and security, including economic and social issues insofar as they relate to peace and security, and making recommendations for the elements of a collective response”.

The other 15 members of the Panel are:

-- Robert Badinter (France), Member of the French Senate and former Minister of Justice of France;

-- João Clemente Baena Soares (Brazil), former Secretary-General of the Organization of American States;

-- Gro Harlem Brundtland (Norway), former Prime Minister of Norway and former Director-General of the World Health Organization;

-- Mary Chinery-Hesse (Ghana), Vice-Chairman, National Development Planning Commission of Ghana and former Deputy Director-General, International Labour Organization;

-- Gareth Evans (Australia), President of the International Crisis Group and former Minister for Foreign Affairs of Australia;

-- David Hannay (United Kingdom), former Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations and United Kingdom Special Envoy to Cyprus;

-- Enrique Iglesias (Uruguay), President of the Inter-American Development Bank;

-- Amre Moussa (Egypt), Secretary-General of the League of Arab States;

-- Satish Nambiar (India), former Lt. General in the Indian Army and Force Commander of UNPROFOR;

-- Sadako Ogata (Japan), former United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees;

-- Yevgeny Primakov (Russia), former Prime Minister of the Russian Federation;

-- Qian Qichen (China), former Vice Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China;

-- Nafis Sadik (Pakistan), former Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund;

-- Salim Ahmed Salim (United Republic of Tanzania), former Secretary-General of the Organization of African Unity; and

-- Brent Scowcroft (United States), former Lt. General in the United States Air Force and United States National Security Adviser.

Terms of Reference of High-Level Panel

The past year has shaken the foundations of collective security and undermined confidence in the possibility of collective responses to our common problems and challenges.  It has also brought to the fore deep divergences of opinion on the range and nature of the challenges we face, and are likely to face in the future.

The aim of the High-level Panel is to recommend clear and practical measures for ensuring effective collective action, based upon a rigorous analysis of future threats to peace and security, an appraisal of the contribution collective action can make, and a thorough assessment of existing approaches, instruments and mechanisms, including the principal organs of the United Nations.

The Panel is not being asked to formulate policies on specific issues, nor on the UN’s role in specific places.  Rather, it is being asked to provide a new assessment of the challenges ahead, and to recommend the changes which will be required if these challenges are to be met effectively through collective action.

Specifically, the Panel will:

a)  Examine today’s global threats and provide an analysis of future challenges to international peace and security.  Whilst there may continue to exist a diversity of perception on the relative importance of the various threats facing particular Member States on an individual basis, it is important to find an appropriate balance at a global level.  It is also important to understand the connections between different threats. 

b)  Identify clearly the contribution that collective action can make in addressing these challenges. 

c)  Recommend the changes necessary to ensure effective collective action, including but not limited to a review of the principal organs of the United Nations. 

The Panel’s work is confined to the field of peace and security, broadly interpreted.  That is, it should extend its analysis and recommendations to other issues and institutions, including economic and social, to the extent that they have a direct bearing on future threats to peace and security.

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