Summit Endorses Reforms to Strengthen U.N.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder told reporters in Guadalajara in Mexico on Friday that he saw "good chances that such a seat can be realized," and said it was recognized how sensitively and responsibly Germany behaved on the world political stage.

Schröder's government has never concealed its interest in a German seat on the council and has stepped up efforts recently to accomplish it.

Under the current structure, the Security Council has five permanent members - China, France, Great Britain, the United States and Russia. It also has 10 rotating members elected for two-year terms by the General Assembly.

Germany was shut out from permanent-seat status when the U.N. was formed in 1945. For Germany to get a seat, France or Britain would have to cede theirs-- not an easy option. Some European nations would like the 25-nation EU to get a permanent seat.

Condemnation of torture

Representatives from 58 European, Latin America and Caribbean nations participated in the one-day summit in Mexico's western city of Guadalajara aimed at building closer ties between Europe and Latin America.

Despite initial opposition from Britain and after hours of wrangling on the wording of the concluding declaration, summit participants condemned the sexual humiliation, torture and degradation of Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison by U.S. soldiers. The scandal has further undermined U.S. credibility in Iraq and the wider Arab world.

"We declare our horror at recent evidence of the mistreatment of prisoners in Iraqi jails. These abuses go against international law," the declaration said. "We energetically condemn all forms of abuse, torture and other cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment against people, including prisoners of war, wherever they occur."

U.S. should drop unilateralism

The leaders also said they wanted the United Nations to remain the premier organization to resolve international conflicts in a indirect warning to the U.S. to shed its unilateralist stance.

The summit declaration was also critical of U.S. foreign policy, without specifically mentioning the U.S. They also called for a revamp of the United Nations and expressed "full support" for the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands.

Leaders said U.N. reforms must make the international organization more effective and spare it the embarrassment of being sidelined, as happened last year when the U.S. declared war on Iraq without U.N. backing.

"We all recall that 2003 was a difficult year," said Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, whose country holds the EU presidency. Ahern said U.S. action last year showed the U.N. to be "unable to deal with hard questions of peace and security and unable, therefore, to command confidence."

Ahern said no country can act alone. "Peace and justice can best be guaranteed by states working together. Only by working together an terrorism conditions, which can sometimes rise to terrorism, be addressed," Ahern said.

Reform of the U.N.

Chancellor Schröder said it was first necessary to bring about changes in the United Nations. "First, however, we must have reforms," Schröder said, adding Germany would like to see a U.N. environment agency.

The Mexican hosts too said they were in favor of far-reaching reforms to the U.N. in order to set up a new international order.

"I am convinced Latin America, the Caribbean and the European Union should have an important role in forming a new international order in which multilateralism and social cohesion translate into a more secure, equal, prosperous and fair world," Mexican President Vicente Fox said.