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Introduction:

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is the organ of the United Nations charged
with the maintenance of international peace and security. Its powers, outlined in the
United Nations Charter, include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the
establishment of international sanctions regimes, and the authorization for military
action. Its powers are exercised through United Nations Security Council Resolutions.

The Security Council held its first session on 17 January 1946 at Church House, London.

Since its first meeting, the Council, which exists in continuous session, has traveled widely,
holding meetings in many cities, such as Paris d Addis Ababa. For the most part, however, it has remained
located at UN Headquarters — first at Lake Success in New York and then at its current home in New York
City.

Members (Overview):

There are 15 members of the Security Council. This includes five veto-wielding
permanent members—China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United
States—based on the great powers that were the victors of World War II. There are also
10 non-permanent members, with five elected each year to serve two year terms. This
basic structure is set out in Chapter V of the UN Charter. The current non-permanent
members are Argentina, Australia, Azerbaijan, Guatemala, Luxembourg, Morocco,
Pakistan, Rwanda, South Korea, and Togo.

Permanent members:

The Security Council's five permanent members have the power to veto any substantive
resolution:

At the UN's founding in 1946, the five permanent members of the Security Council were
the French Fourth Republic, the Republic of China, the United Kingdom, the United
States of America, and the Soviet Union. There have been two seat changes since then,
although not reflected in Article 23 of the United Nations Charter as it has not been
accordingly amended:

China's seat was originally held by Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist Government, known as
the "Republic of China." However, the Nationalists were forced to retreat to the island of
Taiwan in 1949, during the Chinese Civil War. The Communist government was left in
control of mainland China, hence forth known as the "People's Republic of China." In
1971, Resolution 2758 recognized the People's Republic as the rightful representative of
China in the UN and gave it the seat on the Security Council that had been held by the
Republic of China, which was expelled from the UN altogether.
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Both governments still officially claim one another's territory, however only a few small
nations continue to officially recognize Taiwan's sovereignty.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia was recognized as the legal
successor state of the Soviet Union and maintained the latter's position on the Security
Council.
Additionally, France reformed its government into the French Fifth Republic in 1958,
under the leadership of Charles de Gaulle. France maintained its seat as there was no
change in its international status or recognition, although many of its overseas
possessions eventually became independent.

The five permanent members of the Security Council were the victorious powers in
World War II and have maintained the world's most powerful military forces ever since.
They annually top the list of countries with the highest military expenditures; in 2011,
they spent over US$1 trillion combined on defense, accounting for over 60% of global
military expenditures (the U.S. alone accounting for over 40%). They are also the only
countries officially recognized as "nuclear-weapon states" under the Nuclear Non-
Proliferation Treaty (NPT), though there are other states known or believed to be in
possession of nuclear weapons.

Non-permanent members:

Ten other members are elected by the General Assembly for two-year terms starting on
1 January, with five replaced each year. The members are chosen by regional groups
and confirmed by the United Nations General Assembly. To be approved, a candidate
must receive at least 2/3 of all votes cast for that seat, which can result in deadlock if
there are two roughly evenly matched candidates; in 1979, a standoff between Cuba
and Colombia only ended after three months and 154 rounds of voting, when both
withdrew in favor of Mexico as a compromise candidate. A retiring member shall not be
eligible for immediate re-election. The African bloc is represented by three members;
the Latin America and the Caribbean, Asian, and Western European and Others blocs by
two members each; and the Eastern European bloc by one member. Also, one of the
members is an "Arab country," alternately from the Asian or African bloc. Currently,
elections for terms beginning in even-numbered years select two African members, and
one each within Eastern Europe, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean.
Additionally, the Arab state is represented in this group (Libya within Africa in 2008,
Lebanon within Asia in 2010). Terms beginning in odd-numbered years consist of two
Western European and Other members, and one within each of Latin America and the
Caribbean, Asia, and Africa.
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President:
The role of president of the Security Council involves setting the agenda, presiding at its
meetings and overseeing any crisis. The President is authorized to issue both presidential
statements (subject to consensus among Council members) and notes, which are used to
make declarations of intent that the full Security Council can then pursue. The Presidency
rotates monthly in alphabetical order of the Security Council member nations' names in
English.
Veto Power:

The United Nations Security Council "power of veto" refers to the veto power wielded
solely by the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (China,
France, Russia, United Kingdom, and United States), enabling them to prevent the
adoption of any "substantive" draft Council resolution, regardless of the level of
international support for the draft. The veto does not apply to procedural votes, which
is significant in that the Security Council's permanent membership can vote against a
"procedural" draft resolution, without necessarily blocking its adoption by the Council.

The veto is exercised when any permanent member—the so-called "P5"—casts a

"negative" vote on a "substantive" draft resolution. Abstention or absence from the
vote by a permanent member does not prevent a draft resolution from being adopted.
Origins of the veto provision:

The idea of states having a veto over the actions of international organizations was not
new in 1945. From the foundation of the League of Nations in 1920, each member of
the League Council, whether permanent or non-permanent, had a veto on any non-
procedural issue. From 1920 there were 4 permanent and 4 non-permanent members,
but by 1936 the number of non-permanent members had increased to 11. Thus there
were in effect 15 vetoes. This was one of several defects of the League that made action
on many issues impossible.
UN Charter provision for unanimity among the Permanent Members of the Security
Council (the veto) was the result of extensive discussion, including at Dumbarton Oaks
(August–October 1944) and Yalta (The February 1945). The evidence is that the UK, US,
USSR, and France all favored the principle of unanimity, and that they were motivated in
this not only by a belief in the desirability of the major powers acting together, but also
by a hard-headed concern to protect their own sovereign rights and national interest.
Truman, who became President of the US in April 1945, went so far as to write in his
memoirs: "All our experts, civil and military, favored it, and without such a veto no
arrangement would have passed the Senate."
The UNSC veto system was established in order to prohibit the UN from taking any
future action directly against its principal founding members. One of the lessons of the
League of Nations (1919–46) had been that an international organization cannot work if
all the major powers are not members.
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The expulsion of the Soviet Union from the League of Nations in December 1939,
following its November 1939 attack on Finland soon after the outbreak of World War II,
was just one of many events in the League's long history of incomplete membership.
It had already been decided at the UN's founding conference in 1944, that Britain,
China, the Soviet Union, the United States and, "in due course" France, should be the
permanent members of any newly formed Council. France had been defeated and
occupied by Germany (1940–44), but its role as a permanent member of the League of
Nations, its status as a colonial power and the activities of the Free French forces on the
allied side allowed it a place at the table with the other four.

Article 27:

Each member of the Security Council shall have one vote.

Decisions of the Security Council on procedural matters shall be made by an affirmative
vote of nine members.
Decisions of the Security Council on all other matters shall be made by an affirmative
vote of nine members including the concurring votes of the permanent members;
provided that, in decisions under Chapter VI, and under paragraph 3 of Article 52, a
party to a dispute shall abstain from voting.
Although the "power of veto" is not explicitly mentioned in the UN Charter, the fact that
"substantive" decisions by the UNSC require "the concurring votes of the permanent
members", means that any of those permanent members can prevent the adoption, by
the Council, of any draft resolutions on "substantive" matters. For this reason, the
"power of veto" is also referred to as the principle of "great Power unanimity".
The experience of the veto power:
The actual use of the veto, and the constant possibility of its use, has been central
features of the functioning of the Security Council throughout the UN's history. In the
period from 1945 to the end of 2009, 215 resolutions on substantive issues were vetoed,
sometimes by more than one of the Permanent Five. The average number of vetoes cast
each year to 1989 was over five: since then the average annual number has been just
above one. The figures reflect the fact that a Permanent Member of the Security Council
can avoid casting a veto if the proposal in question does not in any event obtain the
requisite majority. In the first two decades of the UN, the Western states were
frequently able to defeat resolutions without actually using the veto; and the Soviet
Union was in this position in the 1970s and 1980s. Use of the veto has reflected a degree
of diplomatic isolation of the vetoing state(s) on the particular issue. Because of the use
or threat of the veto, the Security Council could at best have a limited role in certain
wars and interventions in which its Permanent Members were involved – for example in
Algeria (1954–62); Suez (1956), Hungary (1956), Vietn Not all cases of UN inaction in
crises have been due to actual use of the veto. For example, re the Iran–Iraq war of
1980–88 there was no use of the veto, but the UN role was minimal except in its
concluding phase.
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Likewise the limited involvement of the UN in the crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan
from 2003 onwards was not due to any actual use of the veto. A general lack of
willingness to act was the main problem.

Since 1990 the veto has been used sparingly. The period from 31 May 1990 to 11 May
1993 was the longest without use of the veto in the history of the UN. Up till the end of
1989 the number of resolutions passed by the Security Council had been 646 – an
average of about 15 per annum. The figures for the years since then show a peak of
Security Council activism in 1993, followed by a modest degree of retrenchment.
am (1946–75), the Sino-Vietnamese war
(1979), Afghanistan (1979–88), Panama (1989), Iraq (2003), and Georgia (2008).

Not all cases of UN inaction in crises have been due to actual use of the veto. For
example, re the Iran–Iraq war of 1980–88 there was no use of the veto, but the UN role
was minimal except in its concluding phase. Likewise the limited involvement of the UN
in the crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan from 2003 onwards was not due to any actual
use of the veto. A general lack of willingness to act was the main problem.

Since 1990 the veto has been used sparingly. The period from 31 May 1990 to 11 May
1993 was the longest without use of the veto in the history of the UN. Up till the end of
1989 the number of resolutions passed by the Security Council had been 646 – an
average of about 15 per annum. The figures for the years since then show a peak of
Security Council activism in 1993, followed by a modest degree of retrenchment. In
1950 the Soviet Union missed one important opportunity to exercise its veto power.
The Soviet government had adopted an "empty chair" policy at the Security Council
from January 1950, owing to its discontent over the UN's refusal to recognize the
People's Republic of China's representatives as the legitimate representatives of China,
and with the hope of preventing any future decisions by the Council on substantive
matters. Despite the wording of the Charter (which makes no provisions for passing
resolutions with the abstention or absence of a veto-bearing member), this was treated
as a non-blocking abstention. This had in fact already become Council practice by that
time, the Council having already adopted numerous draft resolutions despite the lack of
an affirmative vote by each of its permanent members. The result of the Soviet Union's
absence from the Security Council was that it was not in a position to veto the UN
Security Council resolutions 83 (27 June 1950) and 84 (7 July 1950) authorizing the US-
led military coalition in Korea which assisted South Korea in repelling the North Korean
attack.
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The Security Council - Functions and powers:

The functions and powers assigned to the Security Council under the charter are the
following:

 to maintain international peace and security in accordance with the principles

and purposes of the UN;
 to investigate any dispute or situation that might lead to international friction
and to recommend methods of adjusting such disputes or the terms of
settlement;
 to determine the existence of a threat to the peace or an act of aggression and to
recommend what action should be taken;
 to call on members to apply economic sanctions and other measures not
involving the use of force in order to prevent or stop aggression;
 to take military action against an aggressor; and
To formulate plans for the establishment of a system to regulate armaments.
The Security Council also is empowered to exercise the trusteeship functions of the UN
in areas designated as "strategic" (only the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands was so
designated).
Finally, the Council recommends to the General Assembly the admission of new members
and the appointment of the Secretary-General and, together with the General Assembly,
elects the judges of the International Court of Justice.
Role of the Security Council:

Under Chapter Six of the Charter, "Pacific Settlement of Disputes", the Security Council
"may investigate any dispute or any situation which might lead to international friction
or give rise to a dispute". The Council may "recommend appropriate procedures or
methods of adjustment" if it determines that the situation might endanger international
peace and security. These recommendations are not binding on UN members.

Under Chapter Seven, the Council has broader power to decide what measures are to
be taken in situations involving "threats to the peace, breaches of the peace, or acts of
aggression". In such situations, the Council is not limited to recommendations but may
take action, including the use of armed force "to maintain or restore international peace
and security". This was the basis for UN armed action in Korea in 1950 during the
Korean War and the use of coalition forces in Iraq and Kuwait in 1991. Decisions taken
under Chapter Seven, such as economic sanctions, are binding on UN members.
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Then United States Secretary of State Colin Powell holds a model vial of anthrax while
giving a presentation to the United Nations Security Council in February 2003. Foreign
ministers and heads of government often appear in the UNSC in person to discuss
issues.

The UN's role in international collective security is defined by the UN Charter, which
gives the Security Council the power to:

Investigate any situation threatening international peace;

Recommend procedures for peaceful resolution of a dispute;
Call upon other member nations to completely or partially interrupt economic relations
as well as sea, air, postal, and radio communications, or to sever diplomatic relations;
and
Enforce its decisions militarily, or by any means necessary.
The United Nations has helped prevent many outbreaks of international violence from
growing into wider conflicts. It has opened the way to negotiated settlements through
its service as a centre of debate and negotiation, as well as through UN-sponsored fact-
finding missions, mediators, and truce observers. UN Peacekeeping forces, comprised of
troops and equipment supplied by member nations, have usually been able to limit or
prevent conflict, although sometimes not. Some conflicts, however, have proven to be
beyond the capacity of the UN to influence. Key to the success of UN peacekeeping
efforts is the willingness of the parties to a conflict to come to terms peacefully through
a viable political process.

Criticisms of the Security Council:

There have been criticisms that the five permanent members of the United Nations
Security Council (who are all nuclear powers) have created an exclusive nuclear club
whose powers are unchecked. While the General Assembly has true international
representation, the United Nations Security Council doesn't. This has led to accusations
that the UNSC only addresses the strategic interests and political motives of the
permanent members, especially in humanitarian interventions - for example, protecting
the oil-rich Kuwaitis in 1991 but poorly protecting resource-poor Rwandans in 1994. Any
nation may be elected to serve a temporary term on the Security Council, but critics
have suggested this is inadequate. Rather, they argue, the number of permanent
members should be expanded to include non-nuclear powers, which would democratize
the organization. Still other nations have advocated abolishing the concept of
permanency altogether; under the government of Paul Martin, Canada advocated this
approach.
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Another criticism of the Security Council involves the veto power of the five permanent
nations. As it stands, one veto from any of the "Big Five" (Russia, China, the United
States, the United Kingdom and France) can halt any possible action the Council may
take. One nation's objection, rather than the opinions of a majority of nations, may
cripple any possible UN armed or diplomatic response to a crisis. For instance, John J.
Mearsheimer claimed that "Since 1982, the US has vetoed 32 Security Council
resolutions critical of Israel, more than the total number of vetoes cast by all the other
Security Council members." However, Russia (and the Soviets) issued 122 vetoes while
the United States only issued a total of 81 vetoes since the formation of the Security
Council. The practice of the permanent members meeting privately and then presenting
their resolutions to the full council as a fait accompli has also drawn fire; according to
Erskine Childers, "the vast majority of members -- North as well as South -- have made
very clear...their distaste for the way three Western powers behave in the Council, like a
private club of hereditary elite-members who secretly come to decisions and then
emerge to tell the grubby elected members that they may now rubber-stamp those
decisions."

Other critics and even proponents of the Security Council question its effectiveness and
relevance because in most high profile cases, there are essentially no consequences for
violating a Security Council resolution. The most prominent and dramatic example of
this became the Darfur crisis, in which Arab Janjaweed militias, supported by the
Sudanese government, committed repeated acts of ethnic cleansing and genocide
against the indigenous population. Thus far, an estimated 300,000 civilians have been
killed in what is the largest case of mass murder in the history of the region, yet the U.N.
has continuously failed to act against this severe and ongoing human rights issue.
Another such case occurred in the Srebrenica massacre where Serbian troops
committed genocide against Bosnian Muslims in the largest case of mass murder on the
European continent since World War II. Srebrenica had been declared a U.N. "safe area"
and was even protected by 400 armed Dutch peacekeepers, but the U.N. forces did
nothing to prevent the massacre.

Other critics object to the idea that the U.N. is a democratic organization, saying that
it represents the interests of the governments of the nations who form it and not
necessarily the individuals within those nations. World federalist Dieter Heinrich
points out that the powerful Security Council system does not have distinctions
between the legislative, executive, and judiciary branches: the UN Charter gives all
three powers to the Security Council.
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The G4 nations (Brazil, Germany, India and Japan) support one another’s bid
for permanent seats on the Security Council.

There has been discussion of increasing the number of permanent members. The
countries who have made the strongest demands for permanent seats are Brazil,
Germany, India and Japan. Indeed, Japan and Germany are the UN's second and third
largest funders respectively, while Brazil, the largest Latin American nation, and India,
the world's largest democracy and second most populous country, are two of the
largest contributors of troops to UN-mandated peace-keeping missions. This project
has found opposition in a group of countries called Uniting for Consensus.

Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan asked a team of advisors to come up with

recommendations for reforming the United Nations by the end of 2004. One proposed measure
is to increase the number of permanent members by five, which, in most proposals, would
include Brazil, Germany, India, Japan (known as the G4 nations), one seat from Africa (most
likely between Egypt, Nigeria or South Africa) and/or one seat from the Arab League. On 21
September 2004, the G4 nations issued a joint statement mutually backing each other's claim
to permanent status, together with two African countries. The United States, France, and the
United Kingdom declared that they support this claim. Currently the proposal has to be
accepted by two-thirds of the General Assembly (128 votes)