Bradley S. Klapper

As a standing organ of the United Nations, the body would meet when necessary, addressing human rights violations as they arise. At present, the commission can only address issues during its annual six-week session.

Council members would be elected directly by the General Assembly by a two-thirds majority and fulfill specific human rights criteria, according to the proposed reforms.

Under U.N. rules, members of the commission have been picked by regional groups. Current member states that have been criticized themselves for abuses include China, Cuba, Nepal, Russia, Sudan and Zimbabwe. Several other countries with poor human rights records have been on the commission over the years, and Libya has even held the chair.

A number of countries have pushed for more stringent eligibility criteria for the panel. Two years ago, the United States walked out of the commission’s meeting to protest Cuba’s re-election, which it called “an outrage.”

“The new human rights council must be a society of the committed. It must be more accountable and more representative,” Annan said. “Ultimately it would produce more effective assistance and protections, and that is the yardstick by which we should be measured.”

Annan singled out human rights abuses in Darfur, saying that the situation there is a test for the United Nations, “as individuals and as an institution.”

Last year, the commission voted 50-1, with 2 abstentions, to express concern about the situation in Darfur, but stopped short of formal condemnation of Sudan. Even formal censure by the commission involves no penalties but draws attention to a country’s record.

The United Nations has called the situation in Darfur — where two rebel groups made up of black tribesmen have been fighting against the government for two years, prompting a rampage by pro-government Arab militiamen accused of atrocities against civilians — as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

An estimated 180,000 people have died in the upheaval and about 2 million others have been displaced since the conflict began in February 2003.

Although there have been some teething problems, officials believe the tool could greatly speed relief efforts.

“The humanitarian agencies have some catching up to do when it comes to things like Skype and hand-held e-mail,” said Alex Wynter, a Red Cross spokesman in Haiti. “But in the base camps, we’re connected and disaster relief is going online.”

Users with Google Earth on their computer can go to the Web site, http://www.cccmhaiti.info, where a link offers a map of many of the 414 tent sites, churches, government buildings, schools and refugee camps that have sprung up since the Jan. 12 tremor that killed over 200,000 people.

Over a normal Google Earth screen of Haiti, blue spots appear showing where Haitians have settled. Some are named by street, zone or landmark, and others are simply numbered as “IDP” — internally displaced persons — camps.

Each blue spot can be clicked on, calling up an information box that gives a site’s longitude and latitude, commune and estimated number of families and individuals. The details are updated regularly so that, in theory, charities and government officials can foresee aid shortfalls, and potential dangers such as landslides and floods.

“It is the first time a tool of such sophistication has been deployed in such short order by humanitarian actors after a major emergency,” said Jean-Philippe Chauzy, a spokesman for the International Organization for Migration, which teamed with Google, the U.N. and humanitarian information body iMMAP on the project.

Aid workers from a number of agencies are already updating the system, Chauzy said.

But it still has shortcomings, reflecting the tangled web of aid groups involved in providing humanitarian assistance in Haiti, as after any major disaster, and older systems for sharing information. Though it’s hardly technically challenging, separate pages still must be consulted to find out about the conditions, needs and agencies responsible for helping each group of people.

Aid officials say the information should be harmonized, and made accessible with a simple mouse click on Google Earth once enough staff have been trained and the program develops.

“That’s the next logical step,” conceded Brian Kelly, a senior IOM official involved in the project.

Kelly said in an interview Tuesday that the project aims to give policymakers and common citizens a better understanding of how complicated aid operations work. While few Haitians have Internet access, he claimed the project would allow people directly affected by future catastrophes to help identify shortages.

“It gives you a quick snapshot: ‘Hey, look, there’s no water there,’” Kelly said. “When something happens, the initial questions we ask are: ‘Where is everyone? How are they living? What services are they getting?’”

Chauzy said IOM mapping experts started the project shortly after the earthquake, with civil engineers and Haitian geographers who had extensive knowledge of local boundaries and street names. The cooperation with Google was a key step up from previous mapping exercises, which used PDF files that were less user-friendly and less accessible.

Google’s offices in Switzerland and Germany wouldn’t comment, but U.N. spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs praised the company for delivering images so quickly after the earthquake, first by satellite and then enhanced by shots from the ground.

“These satellite images were crucial,” Byrs said.

She said the site was populated with information from “all existing sources at that time.” The U.N. then developed a “common language” for aid workers updating the information.

Chauzy said he hoped the maps could serve a key purpose in coming weeks by helping aid officials identify safer places to house Haitians during the rainy season, when floods and landslides pose a threat.

The system’s long-term future advantages are clear. There should be less duplication of aid efforts, greater information for donors asking where their money is going, and less complicated coordination meetings — which aid officials say are often too time-consuming.

“A lot of time and effort goes into logistics. If you don’t know what’s coming, where to take it, you are in trouble,” Kelly said. “We need to understand, not in month three but in week two, where people have moved and what their conditions are. This is going to cut through a lot of bureaucracy.”