Kofi Annan, United Nations secretary-general, yesterday appeared before the much-maligned Human Rights Commission in Geneva to tell it why it should be disbanded as part of a sweeping overhaul of the UN.

“The cause of human rights has entered a new era,” he said. “We have reached a point at which the commission's declining credibility has cast a shadow on the reputation of the United Nations system as a whole, and where piecemeal reforms will not be enough.”