Reforming UN Human Rights Machinery, address by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the UN Commission on Human Rights, April 7, 2005 [saying that the Commission's declining credibility had "cast a shadow" over the whole United Nations and that the institution needed to frame a new permanent human rights body to prevent and more effectively address worldwide abuses and suffering]. Excerpt:

As you know, I have recommended that Member States replace the Commission on Human Rights with a smaller Human Rights Council.

The Commission in its current form has some notable strengths. It can take action on country situations. It can appoint rapporteurs and other experts. And it works closely with civil society groups.

At the same time, the Commission's ability to perform its tasks has been overtaken by new needs, and undermined by the politicization of its sessions and the selectivity of its work. We have reached a point at which the Commission's declining credibility has cast a shadow on the reputation of the United Nations system as a whole, and where piecemeal reforms will not be enough.

A Human Rights Council would offer a fresh start. My basic premise is that the main intergovernmental body concerned with human rights should have a status, authority and capability commensurate with the importance of its work. The United Nations already has councils that deal with its two other main purposes, security and development. So creating a full-fledged council for human rights offers conceptual and architectural clarity. But what is most important is for the new body to be able to carry out the tasks required of it…

A Council will not overcome all the tensions that accompany our handling of human rights. A degree of tension is inherent in the issues. But the Council would allow for a more comprehensive and objective approach. And ultimately it would produce more effective assistance and protections, and that is the yardstick by which we should be measured. I urge Member States to reach early agreement in principle to establish a Human Rights Council. They can then turn to the details such as its size, composition and mandate; its relations with other UN bodies; and how to retain the best of the existing mechanisms, such as the special rapporteurs and the close ties with NGOs. Consultations with the High Commissioner would naturally be a very central part of this process, and she stands ready to assist. Let us do our part to make this happen, and show that the United Nations takes the cause of human rights as seriously as it does those of security and development.

Read the full text of Annan's speech. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.