The United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has praised the organisation in a statement to mark 60 years since the signing of the UN Charter. The UN keeps the peace in many places, organises elections and brings relief to disaster victims, Mr Annan said. In a statement to mark the occasion, the secretary general said the UN faced new threats and challenges and new opportunities.
He urged world leaders attending September's world summit on international development, security, human rights and UN reform at UN headquarters in New York to make bold decisions, saying they had never been more necessary or more possible. One of those is the actual reform of the UN itself.
The four countries urging UN Security Council reform say they are confident they have enough support to carry their proposal in a vote in the coming weeks.
India, Germany, Brazil and Japan want to enlarge the council from 15 members to 25, with six new permanent seats. Ambassadors for the "group of four" said they had the required backing of two-thirds of General Assembly members.
The Security Council - the UN's main decision-making body - reflects the balance of power at the end of World War II. Ten of its members rotate for two-year terms and the other five - the US, Britain, France, Russia and China - have permanent seats with veto power. Moves to reform the council have been discussed since the early 1990s.
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