Still Running Off at the Keyboard

Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the conduct of the United Nations' human rights body was undermining the credibility of the entire U.N. organization and urged governments Thursday to support his plan to reform it.

"Unless we re-make our human rights machinery, we may be unable to renew public confidence in the United Nations itself," he told the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, which is holding its annual six-week session at its Geneva headquarters.

"We have reached a point at which the commission's declining credibility has cast a shadow on the reputation of the United Nations system ... and where piecemeal reforms will not be enough," he said in a speech.