EuropaWorld 19/1/2001 The Security Council

The Security Council is the most powerful institution of the United Nations system. Since its creation in 1945, under the newly-completed United Nations Charter, the Security Council has had primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security.

The Security Council originally consisted of 11 members - 5 permanent members, which remain France, the United Kingdom, the United States, Russia and China - and 6 non-permanent members, holding office for two-year terms. This latter figure was increased in 1965 when an amendment to the UN Charter created a further 4 non-permanent seats to ensure a more equitable geographical distribution of power. Of these 10, five retire each year, to be replaced with five new countries, which are elected by the General Assembly. The countries most recently elected to the Security Council were Colombia, Mauritius, Singapore, Ireland and Norway. Their two-year term began on January 1 2000. The presidency of the Council is held by each of its members for a month in turn, according to where they fall in the English alphabet. The current presidency is held by Singapore.

The Security Council is so organised as to be able to function continuously, and a representative of each of its members must be present at all times at UN headquarters. When complaints concerning a threat to peace are brought to the Security Council, the first efforts are usually to seek to resolve the dispute by peaceful means - whether by undertaking investigation and mediation, appointing special representatives or requesting the Secretary-General to use his good offices to intervene. When disputes lead to violence, the Security Council can issue cease-fire directives and can also deploy peace-keeping troops to keep opposing forces apart and establish conditions of relative calm and stability which may allow a peaceful settlement to be reached.

In more radical cases, the Security Council can call upon members of the United Nations to apply diplomatic or economic sanctions against the offending state. If these prove inadequate collective military action can also be imposed. If the state is a UN member, its membership may be suspended or, if the nation has persistently violated the principles of the UN Charter, it may be expelled from the UN on the Council's recommendation.

Unlike the other UN agencies whose recommendations to Governments are purely advisory, in ratifying the UN Charter, all member states of the UN agree to accept and carry out the decisions of the Security Council. In other words, of all the UN bodies, the Security Council alone has the power to take decisions which Member States are obligated to carry out.

In all resolutions, each Council member has one vote. On procedural matters, decisions require affirmative votes from any 9 of the Council's 15 members. On 'substantive' issues however - such as the deployment of peacekeeping missions or the application of sanctions - these nine votes must include the affirmative votes of all five permanent members. It is in decisions like these that the permanent members may exercise their power of 'veto', a privilege not held by the non-permanent members.

In recent years, many calls have been made for reform of the Security Council. It is generally acknowledged that the Council today still reflects the global power structure of 1945 and that, despite the geographical representation of the 10 elected members, the Council remains biased in favour of the industrialised North. Some current proposals include increasing the number of seats on the Security Council and the creation of the EU as a permanent member. As yet however, there are no signs that either of these measures will be adopted in the near future.

More information about the Security Council can be found at http:// www.un.org/documents/scinfo.htm