Indonesia is opposing United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan's proposal to abolish the UN Human Rights Commission and replace it with a smaller Human Rights Council that would meet year-round and have its membership restricted to countries that "abide by the highest human rights standards".

Indonesia's rejection was voiced the country's deputy permanent representative to the UN, Adiyatwidi Adiwoso Asmady, during a meeting of UN officials in New York on Monday (2/5/05).

"I think it is hard for the developing countries to support such a proposal," he was quoted as saying by state news agency Antara.

He said that if the UN Human Rights Council is formed, its performance is predicted to be less credible than that of the existing Human Rights Commission.

The transfer of powers from the Human Rights Commission to Human Rights Council would also raise a number of questions, he said.

"I think it is much better to improve and strengthen the existing Human Rights Commission instead of eliminating it totally and forming a new body that could not possibly function well," he added.

The Human Rights Commission was established in 1946 as a subsidiary body of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). The commission presently has 53 member states and meets annually in Geneva for six weeks with a mandate to establish and monitor international human rights standards.

There has been growing criticism of the commission over recent years and mounting calls for it to be reformed. Critics complain the body is bureaucratic, excessively political, and ineffectual. The commission has also come under for allowing membership of states with appalling human rights records. Indonesia presently holds the chairmanship of the commission.

In addition to rejecting the proposed Human Rights Council, Indonesia has also been opposing Annan's formation of an independent commission of experts to conduct an inquiry into serious human rights violations committed in East Timor in 1999.