Dag Hammarskjöld Library at Uppsala University
Security Council
- © United Nations
The Security Council is the United Nations' most powerful body. Under
the Charter, member states are obliged to carry out its decisions.
The Council has primary responsibility for maintenance of international peace and security.
Even though it is, in theory, a very powerful organ, UN history has shown that political reality is an obstacle for the Security Council in carrying out its duties as established by the Charter.
All international disputes must not be brought before the Security Council. It is up to the Council to investigate any dispute or situation which might lead to international friction.
Under the Charter the Council may take measures towards any threats to world peace. It may act upon:
- a complaint of any member of the United Nations;
- a complaint of a non-member state involved in a dispute and prepared to accept the Council's
decision for a pacific settlement; - on notification by the General Assembly;
- on notification by the Secretary-General;
- of its own volition.
When a dispute is brought before the Security Council, its first action is usually to recommend to the parties to try to reach agreement by peaceful means. The Council may initiate an investigation or mediation by appointing a special representative or by using the good offices of the Secretary-General.
If the situation involves a threat to peace, breaches of the peace or acts of aggression, the Council may take action in order to reduce tension in troubled areas. Such measures include peace-keeping forces, economic sanctions and collective military action.
The Security Council also makes recommendations to the General Assembly on the appointment of a new Secretary-General and on the admission of new Members to the UN.
Members of the Security Council
The Security Council is composed of representatives of 15 member nations. There are five permanent members: France, China, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The 10 non-permanent members are elected by the General Assembly to serve for two year terms with five brought onto the Council each year. The geographical distribution of the non-permanent membership should reflect all regions of the UN member states. The Presidency of the Security Council rotates monthly in English alphabetical order of the state members of the Council.
Documentation
Security Council documents are identified by the following symbols:
S/ Security Council |
-/year |
-/consecutive number |
Ex. S/2003/207 Security Council, year 2003, document 207 |
For the period 1946-1993 the year references were excluded and the documents only carried the symbol S/ and a current number consecutively through the years.
Provisional Rules of Procedure of the Security Council gives background information about the forms of work of the Security Council.
A collection of book on the structure and work of the Security Council will be found in the Dag Hammarskjöld Library, Uppsala, and in the Libraries at UN Headquarters in New York and Geneva.
All Security Council documents in print for the period 1946-1992 will be found in the UN Collection of the Dag Hammarskjöld Library, Uppsala and in the Libraries at UN Headquarters in New York and Geneva. After 1993
the documents are published in print or electronically.
Databases and Indexes
The official Homepage of the Security Council provides an overview of the composition and procedure of the Council including full text documentation from the most recent years and a search engine for press releases.
For more information on the structure of the Security Council, see UN Official web site, Structure and Organization.
Security Council documents are stored in the ODS database - the electronic repository for official documents published by the United Nations. The full text of documents is accessible in PDF format in all official languages of the United Nations: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish with comprehensive coverage beginning in 1993 and selected earlier coverage. Resolutions from 1946- .
Security Council documentation can be retrieved from UNBISnet - Catalogue of United Nations(UN) documents and publications indexed by the UN Dag Hammarskjöld Library and the Library of the UN Office at Geneva. The coverage of UNBISnet is from 1979 onward. UNBISnet also provides instant access to a growing number of full text resources in the six official languages of the UN. A section of UNBISnet provides an Index to Speeches from 1983- with direct links to fulltext.
A web portal to the most essential documents from the Security Council can be found through the United Nations Official Home Page, under section Documents, Security Council.