United Nations Security Council

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations and has primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. Its powers, outlined in the UN Charter, include establishing peacekeeping operations, authorizing military action, and imposing international sanctions. Under Chapter VII of the Charter, the Council may identify threats to international peace, determine breaches of that peace, and authorize responses up to and including the use of force. It is the only UN body with the authority to issue resolutions binding on all member states. The Council also recommends the admission of new member states to the United Nations General Assembly and approves changes to the Charter.

The Security Council consists of 15 members: 5 permanent members—the United States, Russia, China, France, and the United Kingdom—and 10 non-permanent members elected by the General Assembly for two-year terms. The five permanent members, who were the great powers among the Allies of World War II or their recognised successor states, each hold veto power over substantive resolutions, enabling any one of them to block adoption of a draft resolution regardless of the level of support among other members. This veto right does not carry over into General Assembly matters or votes, which are non-binding. The presidency rotates monthly among all fifteen members in English alphabetical order.

Created in 1945 after World War II to succeed the League of Nations in maintaining international order, the Council held its first session on 17 January 1946 at Church House, Westminster, in London. During the Cold War, it was largely paralysed by rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union, though it authorised interventions in the Korean War and the Congo Crisis and deployed peacekeepers to Cyprus and the Sinai Peninsula. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, peacekeeping expanded dramatically: the Council authorised major operations in Kuwait, Namibia, Cambodia, Bosnia, and Somalia, among others. In the 2020s, the Council has faced renewed paralysis, with repeated vetoes by Russia over the war in Ukraine and by the United States over the war in Gaza, prompting fresh calls for structural reform.

Resolutions of the Security Council are enforced in part through UN peacekeeping missions, comprising military, police, and civilian personnel voluntarily provided by member states. As of December 2024, there were 11 active peacekeeping missions with approximately 70,000 personnel from over 120 contributing countries, funded through an approved annual budget of approximately US $5.6 billion.