The lessons I have learnt in 10 years by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan 10:59pm 14th Dec, 2006   14 December 2006    Annan’s legacy as Secretary-General hailed by UN Assembly as successor is sworn in    Standing and applauding, the 192-member United Nations General Assembly today paid a thunderous and prolonged tribute to Secretary-General Kofi Annan at the end of his 10-year tenure before swearing in his successor Ban Ki-moon, who takes over as the world’s top diplomat on 1 January.Both Mr. Annan and Mr. Ban stressed the indissoluble links uniting security, development and human rights as the three pillars of the UN, without any one of which world peace will not be achieved.Earlier, by acclamation the Assembly adopted a resolution of tribute for Mr. Annan who, in the words of Assembly President Sheikha Haya Rashed al-Khalifa, has devoted his life to the world body.    “His career has been unique,” she said. “He has risen through the ranks of the United Nations and devoted his life’s service to the Organization. So, today we are not only bidding farewell to the current Secretary-General, but also to one of the longest-serving officials of the United Nations.”    She stressed that Mr. Annan has stood at the helm as the UN has become a more effective global actor and demands for its services have grown over the past 10 years.    “We are grateful to Kofi Annan for having set out a far-reaching reform framework to make the Organization more relevant to the people of the world: a United Nations that lives to serve humanity and the principles of multilateralism,” Sheikha Haya declared.    “Kofi Annan will leave a lasting legacy. He has guided the United Nations into the 21st century with vision and leadership. As a result the multilateral system is stronger,” she added.    Her words were echoed by the representatives of the various regional groups, who praised Mr. Annan’s role in facing the many challenges confronting the world at large and the UN itself by promoting peace, humanitarian aid, human rights, development for the poor, and wide-ranging reform for the Organization as epitomized by his 2005 report, In Larger Freedom.    In response Mr. Annan noted that despite many difficulties and some setbacks in the past decade “we have achieved much that I am proud of,” citing UN reforms in particular.    The Organization “became more transparent, accountable and responsive,” he said. “It began to better address the needs of individuals worldwide. It faced emerging threats, as well as familiar ones, head-on.    “And it internalized the notion that development, security and human rights must go hand in hand; that there can be no security without development and no development without security, and neither can be sustained in the longer term without being rooted in the rule of law and respect for human rights,” he added.    “I depart convinced that today’s UN does more than ever before, and does it better than ever before. Yet our work is far from complete – indeed, it never will be.”    The Assembly rose in prolonged applause at the end of Mr. Annan’s speech.    December 13, 2006    The lessons I have learnt in 10 years, by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.    Nearly 50 years ago, when I arrived in Minnesota as a student fresh from Africa, I had much to learn - starting with the fact that there is nothing wimpish about wearing earmuffs when it is 15 degrees below zero. All my life since has been a learning experience. Now I want to pass on five lessons I have learned during 10 years as Secretary-General of the United Nations that I believe the community of nations needs to learn as it confronts the challenges of the 21st century.    First, in today"s world we are all responsible for each other"s security. Against such threats as nuclear proliferation, climate change, global pandemics or terrorists operating from havens in failed states, no nation can make itself secure by seeking supremacy over all others. Only by working to make each other secure can we hope to achieve lasting security for ourselves.    This responsibility includes our shared responsibility to protect people from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. That was accepted by all nations at last year"s UN summit. But when we look at the murder, rape and starvation still being inflicted on the people of Darfur, we realise that such doctrines remain pure rhetoric unless those with the power to intervene effectively - by exerting political, economic or, in the last resort, military muscle - are prepared to take the lead. It also includes a responsibility to future generations to preserve resources that belong to them as well as to us. Every day that we do nothing, or too little, to prevent climate change imposes higher costs on our children.    Second, we are also responsible for each other"s welfare. Without a measure of solidarity, no society can be truly stable. It is not realistic to think that some people can go on deriving great benefits from globalisation while billions of others are left in, or thrown into, abject poverty. We have to give all our fellow human beings at least a chance to share in our prosperity.    Third, both security and prosperity depend on respect for human rights and the rule of law. Throughout history, human life has been enriched by diversity, and different communities have learned from each other. But if our communities are to live in peace we must stress also what unites us: our common humanity and the need for our human dignity and rights to be protected by law.    That is vital for development, too. Both foreigners and a country"s own citizens are more likely to invest when their basic rights are protected and they know they will be fairly treated under the law. Policies that genuinely favour development are more likely to be adopted if the people most in need of development can make their voice heard. States need to play by the rules toward each other, as well. No community suffers from too much rule of law; many suffer from too little - and the international community is among them.    My fourth lesson, therefore, is that governments must be accountable for their actions, in the international as well as the domestic arena. Every state owes some account to other states on which its actions have a decisive impact. As things stand, poor and weak states are easily held to account, because they need foreign aid. But large and powerful states, whose actions have the greatest impact on others, can be constrained only by their own people.    That gives the people and institutions of powerful states a special responsibility to take account of global views and interests. And today they need to take into account also what we call "non-state actors". States can no longer - if they ever could - confront global challenges alone. Increasingly, they need help from the myriad types of association in which people come together voluntarily, to profit or to think about, and change, the world.    How can states hold each other to account? Only through multilateral institutions. So my final lesson is that those institutions must be organised in a fair and democratic way, giving the poor and the weak some influence over the actions of the rich and the strong.    Developing countries should have a stronger voice in international financial institutions, whose decisions can mean life or death for their people. New permanent or long-term members should be added to the UN Security Council, whose membership reflects the reality of 1945, not of today.    No less important, all the Security Council"s members must accept the responsibility that comes with their privilege. The council is not a stage for acting out national interests. It is the management committee of our fledgling global security system.    More than ever, Americans, like the rest of humanity, need a functioning global system. Experience has shown, time and again, that the system works poorly when the United States remains aloof but it functions much better when there is farsighted US leadership.    That gives American leaders of today and tomorrow a great responsibility. The American people must see that they live up to it.    * Kofi Annan will retire as Secretary-General of the United Nations on December 31. This article is based on an address delivered on Monday at the Truman Presidential Museum and Library in Independence, Missouri, US.    14 December 2006    Kofi Annan"s Legacy, by Stephen Schlesinger. (MaximsNews.com)    Kofi Annan went to the Truman Presidential Library earlier this week and, in his final address to the United States, reminded Americans that, at the San Francisco Conference of 1945, they gave the world one of our nation"s greatest gifts - namely the United Nations.    Now, he said, the UN "system still cries out for far-sighted American leadership, in the Truman tradition." Calling for the best in the human character is the enduring legacy of Kofi Annan.    Quiet by nature, modest in personality, and dignified in bearing, Kofi Annan took the helm of the UN in 1997 and became a world star. From the beginning, he willingly thrust the United Nations into the life of the planet in an unprecedented fashion.    Beset by the reluctance of the United States to pay its annual dues, Annan met with the "Dr. No" of the American Congress, Senator Jesse Helms, and worked out a solution to the UN"s funding crisis.    He settled disputes in East Timor and Sierra Leone. He brought the world"s business community into joint partnerships with the UN to finance its goals after making it meet strict guidelines on corporate behavior.    More momentously, he challenged the member-states to do better in the field of human rights.    Though knowing he would upset many of his friends in the Third World, he nonetheless advocated, given the failures of Rwanda and Sebrinica, humanitarian intervention by the international body when a state was attacking its own people - even in the face of the UN Charter"s prohibition against interfering in the affairs of a sovereign nation.    He also pushed for the Millennium Development declaration which, among other things, asks countries to help reduce global poverty by fifty percent by the year 2015.    He overcame the reluctance of the Western community that did not wish to send more of its wealth to the underdeveloped world.    By the end of his first term, Annan won the Nobel Peace Prize.    Annan"s second term was stormier. First, the government in Washington changed from one of multilateralism (Clinton) to one of start-and-stop unilateralism (Bush).    President Bush disdained most global pacts including the UN treaty; however, he soon sought the UN"s backing for his invasion of Afghanistan; but he circumvented the body to attack Iraq; he reversed himself again to obtain the UN"s imprimatur on America"s Iraqi occupation and UN supervision of Iraqi elections.    Still, in another about-face, Bush appointed an anti-UN envoy, John Bolton, to the body.    Yet, soon after, he pushed for the UN to dislodge Syrian troops from Lebanon and finalize a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon.    Most damagingly, though, was a rash of UN scandals. The most publicized was the Oil-For-Food affair that was initially laid at the feet of Kofi Annan -- for a time entangling his own son -- despite the fact that most of the oversight of the Iraqi program was borne by the Security Council.    UN-bashers in Congress, however, tried to use this dereliction to drive Annan out of office. Then there were various sexual imbroglios involving UN troops in the Congo as well as the head of the UN"s refugee agency, who was ultimately forced to resign over his personal peccadilloes.    Annan responded to these troubles with the most sweeping reform proposals ever presented to the UN.    He proffered across-the-board changes on matters ranging from Security Council expansion to stricter human rights enforcement to management fixes. If these renovations had passed, they likely would have led to a hugely improved, vastly more adept and far more open body.    But the Bush Administration"s ambassador, Mr. Bolton, and a few Third World allies, undermined many of them. Still enough survived to somewhat redeem the organization.    For example, there is a now a broader definition of terrorism in which, for the first time, all governments clearly and unqualifiedly condemn terrorism "in all its forms and manifestations, committed by whomever, wherever and for whatever purposes."    There is a new principle for the Security Council to use for assessing military intervention -- the so-called "responsibility to protect" against genocide and other mayhem.    There is a Peacebuilding Commission and a Democracy Fund to help failed states rebuild and quash fanaticism.    There is a new Human Rights Council which replaces the worn-out Human Rights Commission.    There are new ethic rules requiring UN staffers to sign financial disclosure forms and a new whistleblower protection program.    Meantime, Kofi Annan in his final years, saw an expansion of the UN"s peacekeeping missions to eighteen, now involving over 80,000 troops - representing an extraordinary $7 billion commitment by the world community, signaling a robust vote of confidence in the UN"s security role.    In his two terms, Annan undoubtedly restored the moral authority to the earth"s preeminent international institution.    In his words and in his acts, he became something akin to the planet"s secular pope.    "Together we have pushed some big rocks to the top of the mountain", he told the General Assembly in his valedictory address, even if some have rolled back.    Annan leaves office on December 31st . We will soon realize what we no longer have.    * Click on the link below for the full text of "The lessons I have learnt in 10 years", by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Visit the related web page
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