United Nations Security Council

The United Nations Security Council is the United Nations body in charge of maintaining peace and security in the world. Unlike other UN departments that can only make recommendations to governments, the Security Council can make decisions (known as resolutions) and bind members to comply with them, in accordance with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations.

The Council is made up of fifteen states,five permanent members with veto power—the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, and the People's Republic of China—and ten non-permanent members.

The ten non-permanent members are elected five by five each year by the UN General Assembly for a two-year term. The Council presidency rotates monthly alphabetically.

Each Council member has one vote. Decisions generally require the affirmative vote of at least nine members.

History

American delegate Warren Austin denounces the participation of Soviet troops during the Korean War in 1950.

In 1944 a practical conference was convened in a private mansion in Washington called Dumbarton Oaks. In this conference were China, Great Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States. Discussions ended on October 7, 1944. A structure for a world organization was proposed, which would include the Security Council. In 1945 the voting procedure was agreed upon at the Yalta Conference and later the San Francisco, where the Charter of the United Nations was approved.

The United Nations Security Council held its first session on January 17, 1946, at Church House, London. Since that date, the Council has met permanently, holding meetings in different cities, from Paris to Addis Ababa. However, most of the time it has been kept at the United Nations headquarters, first in Lake Success and later in New York City.

In 1963, changes to articles 23 and 27 of the United Nations Charter were approved, increasing the number of non-permanent members from six to ten and increasing the number of votes needed to approve a decision from seven to nine.

In 1971, the General Assembly voted in favor of eliminating the member of the Republic of China, being replaced from that time by a delegate of the People's Republic of China as this entity was recognized as the legitimate representative of China. As this issue was based on the representativeness of the permanent member and not on their admission or expulsion, it was dealt with at the General Assembly level without requiring the approval of the Council (and therefore, being subject to a veto) or any modification. of article 23 of the Charter that specifies the characteristics of the permanent members. A similar event occurred in 1991 when the Soviet Union was replaced by the Russian Federation.

Members

Originally, the Security Council would have eleven members, five of them permanent. On December 17, 1963, it was agreed to modify the UN Charter to include more countries in the Council and thereby improve its representativeness and that it could more effectively fulfill the tasks assigned to it. It went from eleven members to fifteen, adding four non-permanent countries, and the decisions of the Council went from being approved by seven votes to having to be approved by nine. The States would have to ratify these modifications before September 1, 1965.

Permanent members

The permanent members are:

Country	Regional block	Current state representation	Previous state representation
China	Asia-Pacific	People ' s Republic of China (since 1971)	Republic of China (1946–1949; continent) Republic of China (1949-1971; Taiwan)
France	Western Europe and others	Fifth French Republic (since 1958)	Fourth French Republic (1946-1958)
Russia	Eastern Europe	Russian Federation (since 1992)	Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1946–1991)
United Kingdom	Western Europe and others	United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (since 1946)	-
United States	North America and others	United States of America (since 1946)	-

Number of resolutions vetoed by the five permanent members of the Security Council between 1946 and 2017.

Power of veto

Per Article 27 of the United Nations Charter, decisions of the Security Council on substantive matters require the affirmative vote of nine members. A negative vote or "veto" by a permanent member prevents the adoption of a proposal, even if it has received the required votes. Abstention is not observed as a veto in most cases, although all five permanent members must actively concur to amend the UN Charter or recommend the admission of a new Member State.

Procedural issues are not subject to a veto, so the veto cannot be used to prevent any discussion of an issue. The same is true of certain decisions that actively concern permanent members. Most vetoes are not used in critical international situations, but rather for purposes such as blocking a candidate for Secretary General or for the admission of a member state.

In 2012, 269 vetoes had been carried out since the creation of the Security Council. In this period, China has used the veto 9 times, France 18, the United Kingdom 32, the United States 89, and Russia 128. Approximately two-thirds of the Russian/Soviet votes were in the first 10 years of the Security Council's existence. Between 1996 and 2012, China vetoed 5 resolutions, Russia 7, and the United States 13, while France and the United Kingdom did not veto.

An early veto by Soviet commissar Andrei Vishinsky blocked a resolution on the withdrawal of French forces from the then-colonies of Syria and Lebanon in February 1946; this veto set the precedent that permanent members could use the veto on matters other than matters immediately concerning war or peace. The Soviet Union went on to veto issues including the admission of Austria, Cambodia, Ceylon, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Laos, Libya, Portugal, South Vietnam, and Transjordan as UN member states, delaying their union for several years. Britain or France used the veto to prevent the Security Council from condemning their actions in the 1956 Suez Crisis.

The first veto by the United States came in 1970, blocking a General Assembly action in Southern Rhodesia. From 1985 to 1990 the United States vetoed 27 resolutions, among other matters to protect its interests in Panama and Korea. The Soviet Union, the United States, and China have all vetoed candidates for General Secretariat, and the United States has used the veto to block Boutros Boutros-Ghali's re-election in 1996.

Non-permanent members

They are elected by at least two-thirds of the votes of the General Assembly for a term of two consecutive years. Every year, five members are renewed. Quotas are distributed according to regional criteria: Africa chooses three members, Latin America and the Caribbean choose two, as well as Asia (which includes 12 countries in Oceania) and Western Europe (which includes Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Israel).), while Eastern Europe chooses one. Alternatively, a member must be from the Arab world, either African or Asian.

The current ten non-permanent members are as follows, indicating in the far left column the term of office:

Group	Africa			Asia-Pacific		Latin America and the Caribbean		Western Europe and others		Eastern Europe
2022	GhanaGhana	GabonGabon		United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates		BrazilBrazil				Albania Albania
2023			MozambiqueMozambique		JapanJapan		EcuadorEcuador	MaltaMalta	SwitzerlandSwitzerland
2024

Security Council Organizations

Several United Nations organizations report to the United Nations Security Council. Among them are the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, designed for the trial of the genocide perpetrated in both territories during the first half of the 1990s, the Peace Consolidation Commission, the Committee Against Terrorism, among others. In turn, the United Nations Security Council is in charge of establishing the UN Peacekeeping Forces, such as the current UNIFIL and MINUSTAH, in charge of peacekeeping in Lebanon and Haiti.

Gathering site

Dmitri Medvédev addressed the Security Council in 2008.

Unlike the General Assembly, the Security Council meets year-round. Each member of the Security Council must have a representative available at UN headquarters at all times in case an emergency meeting is necessary.

The Security Council usually meets in a special room in the conference building located at the UN headquarters in New York. The hall was designed by the Norwegian architect Arnstein Arneberg and was a gift from Norway. The mural painted by Norwegian artist Per Krohg shows a phoenix rising from the ashes, a symbol of the reconstruction of the world after World War II.

On occasion, the Security Council has held meetings outside of New York, in cities such as Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) in 1972, Panama City (Panama) in 1973, and Geneva (Switzerland) in 1990. In March 2010, the Security Council was moved to a temporary facility in the General Assembly building while its regular meeting place was undergoing renovations. The renovations were paid for by Norway (the hall's original donor), at a cost of US$5 million. The hall reopened on April 16, 2013.

Consultation room

Because the Security Council meetings are covered by the press, the proceedings are quite theatrical in nature. The delegates make propaganda speeches to justify their actions and attack their opponents, performing for those present and the audience that follows the interventions on television and the Internet. Delegations also stage walks out of the room to express their disagreement with the actions of the Security Council. The real work of the Security Council is done behind closed doors in "informal consultations".

In 1978, the West German government financed the construction of a conference room next to the Security Council chamber. Only members of the Security Council can enter the conference room for consultations. The press cannot enter and other countries are not invited. As a result, delegations can negotiate in secret, reaching agreements without every word being transcribed on the record. The privacy of the conference room also makes it possible for delegates to interact in a friendly way.

By the time a resolution reaches the Security Council chamber, it has already been discussed, debated and corrected in the consultations. The open meeting of the Security Council has become a public ratification of a decision that had already been made in private. A permanent member can apply a veto during a consultation by declaring his opposition to a measure. Since a veto can prevent a resolution from passing, the initiator usually refrains from formally pushing the resolution. Resolutions are only vetoed if the initiator feels so confident with a measure that it could cause the permanent member to apply the veto.

Membership reforms

G4 States (Brazil, India and Japan) support each other for permanent seats on the Security Council.

Proposals for Council reform began with the conference that wrote the UN Charter and have continued to the present. As the British historian Paul Kennedy wrote 'everyone accepts that the present structure is faulty. But consensus on how to fix it remains out of reach".

There have been talks to increase the permanent membership. The countries that have made the strongest demands for permanent seats are Brazil, Germany, India and Japan. Japan and Germany, the major defeated powers in World War II, are now the second and third largest funders of the UN respectively, while Brazil and India are two of the largest troop contributors to UN peacekeeping missions. This proposal has found opposition in a group of countries called United by Consensus.

Former UN Secretary Kofi Annan has asked a team of advisers to make recommendations for UN reform by 2004. One proposed measure is to increase the permanent membership to five, which, in many proposals, it could include Brazil, Germany, India, and Japan (known as the G4 nations), a seat for Africa (most commonly between Egypt, Nigeria, or South Africa), and/or an Arab League seat.

On September 21, 2004, the G4 nations released a joint statement mutually endorsing a yes to permanent status, along with two African countries. The proposal would have to be accepted by two thirds of the General Assembly (128 votes).

The permanent members, each holding veto power, reluctantly announced their positions on Security Council reform. The United States has unequivocally supported Japan's membership and has lent its support to India and a small number of non-permanent members. The UK and France essentially support the G4 position, with the expansion of the number of permanent and non-permanent members and the accession of Germany, Brazil, India and Japan to permanent member status, as well as an increase in the presence of African countries. in the Council. China has supported strengthening the representation of developing countries and has strongly opposed Japan's membership.

India's bid for permanent Security Council membership has been supported by France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, although the United States initially opposed India's bid on proliferation nuclear weapons, India having acquired nuclear weapons and not having signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

On April 15, 2011, China officially expressed support for an increased Indian role in the United Nations, without specifying ambitions to endorse the Security Council. In any case, China has recently expressed support for the India's bid as a permanent member if India revokes its support for the Japanese bid.

Japan

Japan, one of the largest economies and one of the world's most important states, is the second largest contributor to the regular budget of the UN, surpassing the current permanent members, with the exception of the United States. Japan's application, however, is rejected by some East Asian countries, such as China itself, South Korea and North Korea, who accuse Japan of trying to hide the atrocities committed by its occupying forces during World War II. World. Certain Japanese sectors speculate that these countries, especially China, fear their country's entry into the Council due to the various existing conflicts between the two States, especially of a territorial nature.

On the other hand, several Asian countries have strongly supported Japan, including Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia, Singapore, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Vietnam, who are some of the largest recipients of loans and foreign investment from Japan. Other countries such as the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Belgium, Luxembourg, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Slovenia, Ukraine, Croatia, Greece, Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark have also shown their support. to Japan country.

Germany

Germany is the third largest contributor to the UN's regular budgets, and as such, claims a Security Council seat next to Japan. France has come out explicitly in favor of a permanent seat at the UN for its partner the European Union: "the commitment of Germany, its rank as a great power, its international influence; for these reasons France would like Germany to have a permanent seat on the Security Council" (French President Jacques Chirac said in a speech in Berlin in 2000). The former German chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, also identified Russia, among other countries, as one of the countries that supports Germany's theses. Italy and the Netherlands, on the contrary, suggest a common European Union seat on the council instead of Germany sitting as the third European member alongside France and the United Kingdom. Former German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said Germany would also accept a common European seat, but with France and the UK as unlikely to give up their own seats, Germany, a much larger country, should also have a seat. Thus, the German campaign for a permanent seat intensified in 2004. Previous Chancellor Gerhard Schröder was perfectly clear in August 2004: "Germany has the right to a seat." His proposal was supported by Japan, India, Brazil, France, the United Kingdom and Russia, among other countries. The then German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, did not comment on the matter.

Indian

BRIC group leaders. Russia and China are already members, while Brazil and India are some of the most serious candidates for permanent integration.

India, an atomic power, has the second largest population in the world and is the largest democracy on the planet. It is also the world's third largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity and maintains the world's third largest military. India is one of the largest contributors of troops to UN peacekeeping missions. His offer is supported by the permanent members France, Russia and the United Kingdom. Shashi Tharoor, the nation's deputy secretary general for communications and public information, in his book 'Nehru-The Invention of India,' writes that Jawaharlal Nehru "declined an offer from the United States" to India "to take a permanent seat on the United Nations security council" around 1953. Nehru suggested that the United Nations Security Council seat be offered to Taiwan by Beijing instead.

The project was however initially rejected by China due to geopolitical reasons. (China is an ally of India's rival Pakistan, and is a country that also fought a brief war with India in 1962), recent history has turned with China's official support for the candidacy of the India. On April 11, 2005, China announced that it would support India's bid for a permanent seat, but without a veto. Veto power, however, is the main characteristic of a permanent member and in the eyes of the G4 countries, being denied veto power is just one way for the current 5 permanent members to retain their superiority. Although the US does not officially reject India's offer - for various reasons, some of which remain decidedly unclear - it has done important work with India and supports India's bid (albeit denying it a veto). Considering its huge population and galloping economic and political growth, India is a strong contender for a permanent seat. Another factor in India's candidacy is the fact that it was one of the founding members of the Security Council and has participated in several of its activities, including UN operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cyprus, Cambodia, Yemen, Somalia, Rwanda and Namibia, among others. To date, Krishna Menon's speech (India's envoy to the Security Council) is the longest ever delivered at the United Nations Security Council, on January 23, 1957 he delivered an unprecedented 8-hour speech in which advocated India's presence in Kashmir.

On November 8, 2010, US President Barack Obama came out in favor of including India as a permanent member:

The just and sustainable international order that the United States seeks includes an efficient, effective, credible and legitimate UN; therefore I look forward to the reform of the Security Council that will include India as a permanent member in the coming years.

Barack Obama, American President in New Delhi in 2010.

Brazil

Brazil's economic development in recent decades has positioned it as the main benchmark for Latin America in the international context. It is the largest country in the region in terms of population, economy and land area, and its increasingly influential position on diplomatic issues as a member of the BRICs and as a representative of developing countries make it an obvious candidate for a new seat on the Security Council.

The United States has sent signals of support to Brazil regarding its aspirations for permanent membership, albeit without veto power. Brazil has received the support of other countries such as Russia to obtain a permanent seat.

At the regional level, Mexico and Argentina have expressed reluctance for Brazil to assume the position to their detriment.

The Islamic representative

Countries of the so-called Middle East.

Since, since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the predominantly Islamic Middle East has been a persistent area of international conflict and periodic flare-ups in the region have been the subject of many UN Security Council discussions and its resolutions, the prospect of introducing a permanent Islamic member into the Security Council is a highly sensitive issue, especially if such a member were to be granted veto power. However, some quarters see India as a potential satisfactory option, given that it has the second largest Muslim population, strong ties to certain Arab nations and, at the same time, it is seen as a moderate and acceptable force in the Council of Security.

Outside the Muslim world, commentators, primarily from the United States, have expressed concern that an Islamic member wields the veto power, as it could be used to restrict the ability of the United Nations to act forcefully in the Middle East. or on the fringes of the Islamic world (e.g. Kashmir and Chechnya), making the UN powerless in those regions. The impression of a lack of democracy in Middle Eastern states that are predominantly Muslim is another reason cited by some Western commentators who oppose the idea of including these countries in the club of permanent veto members.

At the same time, G4-sponsored reform blueprints could leave as many as 1.2 billion Muslims (a figure not limited to the Middle East alone, but also including areas such as Southeast Asia) without any permanent representation in the UN security council. This is a highly contentious issue within the Islamic world and would affect the credibility of the UN in the Middle East and in the Islamic world. In June 2005, the Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation spoke out in favor of a permanent Muslim seat on the UN Security Council. Recent resistance to reform bills emanating from the G4 states can be partly attributed to this highly sensitive issue. The United States and several Western states have opposed any offer that gives new members any veto power, and within the African Union, Egypt is leading opposition to Nigeria's proposal to adopt a version of the G4 offers that removes the veto power for new members, and allows for the creation of a reformed council that does not have any permanent members with a predominantly Muslim identity.

Africa

Currently, no country in Africa has a permanent seat on the Security Council and this is the most important reason for granting one to an African country. There are in fact several important reasons why Africa is deserving of a permanent seat on the Security Council:

• Africa is the second most populous continent behind Asia (where China already has a seat and Japan and India request the same).
• Africa is the continent with the largest number of States members of the United Nations.
• Africa as a whole is not seen as a military threat.
• It currently has the support of the majority of South America (the South-South alliance), and the G4 nations. There is also some support from the United Kingdom and France for greater political representation in Africa.

Although no nation in Africa has formally put forward a candidate for Security Council membership, South Africa and Nigeria are seen as the strongest options. South Africa has the largest and most developed economy on the continent and Nigeria is the most populous country and a significant and consistent troop contributor to peacekeeping operations in various regions of the world.