Annan trying to deflect attention from scandals

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan's release of a report Sunday calling for the most sweeping changes in the world body's 60-year history resembles a drowning man grabbing for a life preserver. Annan has been on the hot seat for the numerous scandals that have plagued the U.N., foremost of which is the Iraq oil-for-food program when Saddam Hussein was in power, which makes the timing of the report's release suspect.
In fact, former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, who has been investigating the oil-for-food program, is scheduled to release his findings later this month. Volcker was brought in by Annan after the secretary-general was confronted with a flurry of press stories about how high-ranking U.N. officials conspired with Saddam to divert money from the sale of oil that was meant for food and medicine into private bank accounts.
Volcker has been looking into the activities of Annan and his son, Kojo, who worked in Africa for a company that had an oil-for-food contract. It is clear from the initial findings made public recently that this scandal will not soon go away. It isn't only that Saddam and his co-conspirators made out like bandits, but the victims in this sordid affair were the very young, the very old and the infirmed in Iraq who were suffering as a result of the military dictator's iron-fisted rule.
Full accounting
Therefore, before the 191 members of the U.N. General Assembly jump on Annan's reform bandwagon, they should demand a full accounting of the oil-for-food program, the allegations of sex abuse by peacekeeping troops in the Congo, and the resignation of head of the refugee agency in the wake of sexual harassment charges.
And, the secretary-general should be asked to comment on the membership of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, considering that one of his major proposals calls for creation of a Human Rights Council, similar to the Security Council, to replace the Geneva-based commission. But the problem has less to do with the organization than the standard by which nations are judged for membership.
When the world's leading human rights violators, such as Cuba, Sudan, Syria, Libya and Vietnam, are permitted to serve on the commission, the question of Annan's leadership must come into play. Joanna Weschler, U.N. representative for Human Rights Watch, described those and other like members as "a rogues' gallery of human rights abusers."
"A country's human rights record should be the single most important factor in whether or not it joins the commission. An abusive country cannot honestly pass judgment on other abusive countries."
The secretary-general must know that without a clear standard for membership on the human rights council, his proposal would be nothing more than window dressing.
The changes Annan is pushing, including an expansion of the Security Council, deserve to be debated by the General Assembly, but they should not deflect attention from the scandals that have plagued the world organization.