The UN Security Council is the main organ of the United Nations, which is responsible for international security and world peace. The first meeting of the Council took place in 1946 in London. Within a few years, the place of residence changed, and since 1952 the meeting has been held in New York. Field meetings have taken place throughout history — in Ethiopia, Panama, Switzerland and Kenya.
History of creation
The idea of creating such an organization appeared in 1941. Then, between the USSR and Poland, a Declaration was concluded that would be engaged in strengthening and maintaining peace. This document called for the creation of an organization that would not only ensure peace, but justice. Therefore, only democratic countries were to be included.
If the creation of such an organization happens, then international law should resolve all world conflicts with the involvement of the military forces of the participating countries. But, despite the situation in the world, then few people supported this Declaration.
Specifically, the organization itself has already begun to emerge on the territory of the USSR. It was here that the decision was made to form states into a single organization for the protection of world peace - the UN Security Council. Since the USSR made a huge contribution to the elimination of the fascist aggressor, here in 1943 the Moscow Declaration was signed with the participation of the USA, China, Great Britain and the owners themselves.
The charter of this document said that the leading countries understand the need to create such an organization that would deal with conflict resolution. The basic principle was to become sovereignty. Each of the above countries assumed responsibility for other states.
In this case, the founders can consult among themselves, if necessary, and also take into account the opinion of other members of the organization. Leading countries also pledged not to use weapons on the territory of other states, only if this could solve the organization’s goals.
Later, researchers at the origin of the UN decided to consider Moscow as the place of creation of the organization, since a fundamental document was signed here. After the Moscow conference, a meeting was held in Tehran, where the Declaration was signed in 1943, on December 1.
The document of the UN Security Council states indicated that they assume the burden of resolving world conflicts and protecting countries in a way that would satisfy the overwhelming mass of the people and that would help eliminate disasters and wars.
For a long time, all documents were prepared for approval of this organization. Despite the power of the future project, Roosevelt emphasized that this formation is not a superstate with its rights and the police.
Immediately before the signing, the Yalta Conference was held, which raised the issue of attracting other countries to this organization. And also the main principle of decision making is unanimity. In turn, the USSR insisted on the initial acceptance of the Belarusian and Ukrainian SSR into the UN.
Details
They worked on the UN Charter for a long period, and its final version appeared in June 1945. After its ratification, in October of this year it was signed and entered into force. Therefore, October 24, 1945 is considered the foundation day of the UN.
The preamble to the organization’s main document indicated the determination of the nations to face future threats to peace. Each state is committed to rid the future generation of war and disaster. The urgent need to respect human rights, its dignity and the value of the individual was also declared.
To avoid further problems, members of the UN Security Council pledged to live in peace and harmony with each other. Unite to maintain international peace and security. And also help social and economic global progress.
Composition
The list of members of the UN Security Council changes every two years. It includes 15 countries. Of these, five are permanent members of the UN Security Council, and 10 are temporary. The five "guests" include Russia, Britain, China, the USA and France. The regularity of meetings of these states is not observed, but if necessary they should come together immediately. If any decision is at stake, 9 votes are required to make it. But one should also take into account the veto, which we will talk about a little later.
Since 2016, the new interim members of the UN Security Council are: Uruguay, Ukraine, Egypt, Senegal and Japan. They replaced Chad, Nigeria, Chile, Jordan and Lithuania. Five new “employees” were elected by the UN General Assembly. The Security Council will acquire new temporary members as early as 2017, as elections take place every two years.
Today, the main conflict of this UN formation is its subjectivity. Ten interim members resigned to their position as “supporting actors,” but some still point to injustice in decisions of the Security Council. Despite this, it is worth recalling that a 9 vote out of 15 votes is still required to make a decision, and therefore, in many cases, temporary members play a decisive role.
Today, 193 states remain members of the UN.
Goals
The goals of the UN are announced in the first two paragraphs of the Charter:
- Supporting peace and security, for which effective collective measures are possible, to eliminate the threat of war in all manifestations.
- Deal with disputes that lead to a violation of a peaceful situation, using international law and the principles of justice.
- To take care of the peaceful situation on the globe, to maintain friendly relations not only between UN members, but also between all countries. At the same time, use the principles of equality to strengthen peace.
- Support multilateral cooperation in order to ensure peace, as well as the development of all spheres of society.
- Be a center for conflict resolution and abide by your goals.
This alignment of cases indicates that the UN Security Council is an independent body that is able to solve not only the tasks set out in the Charter, but also to resolve the conflicts formed in the resolution.
Privileges and Immunities
The document, which regulates privileges and immunities, was adopted by the United Nations in 1946. At the same time, the Convention addresses the issue of both the organization itself and employees. If you do not take into account the complex legal wording, all privileges and immunities can be described as follows:
- The organization and its property are not affected by any form of court intervention. An exception may be the refusal of the United Nations from this paragraph.
- It is forbidden to search, arrest, confiscate, etc., on the premises of an organization.
- All UN documentation is inviolable.
- The organization does not have a tax system, and money transfers can be freely sent to any state.
- The organization is not affected by any customs duties, as well as restrictions on import and export.
- The UN has the right to use diplomatic relations, up to ciphers and personal couriers.
This is with regard to immunities and privileges for the organization, but as for employees, here you should divide these rules into several groups.The Secretary General and his family may use all existing diplomatic privileges. Organization officials are exempted from legal liability for what they did while serving. Also, these people are spared taxation, and upon taking office, they can freely import property. UN officials are spared public duty, in which case these people do not have to repay the debt to the state and go to the army.
And the third group consists of experts involved in business trips for the organization. They are spared both from personal arrest and from confiscation of baggage. The immunity also extends to judicial procedural decisions, but only in the case of acts committed during the service. The use of ciphers and codes is available to them, and their documents have immunity status.
The Secretary-General may lose his immunity only in the event of such a decision of the Security Council. But the General Secretary can remove privileges and immunity from other employees at any time. In the first case, this issue has never been raised in history, but the fact of the removal of authority from a UN employee existed in the archive. One of the translators abused his official position, was also caught in a bribe, and therefore was convicted by the US government.
Credentials
The functions and powers of the Security Council are spelled out in the UN Charter. So, the organization is engaged in:
- Maintaining international peace and security, in accordance with the objectives of the UN Charter.
- Investigation of any dispute or conflict that could violate international security.
- Disclosure of recommendations for conflict resolution.
- The definition of the existence of a threat to a peaceful situation or an act of aggression.
- By calling on UN members to form non-military sanctions to end aggression and fuel conflict.
- The introduction of hostilities against the aggressor in urgent need.
- Recommendation to the General Assembly of new interim members.
- The recommendation of the Commissioner for the Secretary-General.
According to the above points, it is clear that the UN Security Council is a peacekeeping force that plays a decisive role in resolving world conflicts. In addition, the organization has the right to take any measures to ensure international security, even if there is a need for the use of weapons.
Veto
As already known, only permanent members of the UN Security Council - China, Russia, the USA, Great Britain and France can use the veto. To pass a resolution, 9 out of 15 votes are required. But if one or more of the permanent members vetoes this issue, no decision will be made.
Of course, this procedure makes you wonder, because not all decisions made by the UN Security Council, the leading countries can agree. And therefore, by vetoing the resolution, they can easily secure themselves from an undesirable decision. Although the Charter states that the party involved in the dispute should abstain from voting.
During the existence of the organization, all five members have used their right to veto more than once. By the way, it is worth saying that the Charter also prescribes a rule under which a permanent member can not use the veto, but refuse to vote.
Resolution
Resolutions of the UN Security Council are documents that relate not only to the activities of the organization itself, but also to issues related to UN actions to resolve conflicts and ensure international security. With the help of the resolution, sanctions are introduced, military measures against the aggressor are resolved, tribunals are held, peacekeeping mandates are distributed, and restrictive measures are taken.
This legal act is adopted or rejected by a vote of 15 members.Decisions of the UN Security Council were adopted only when 9 or more participants voted in favor (excluding veto).
Budget
Where does the money come from in the Security Council and in the United Nations itself? As official documents indicate, UN members are sources of finance. Their contributions can be estimated on a scale that was approved by the General Assembly. There is also a Contribution Committee, which employs 18 professionals. Moreover, this department directly cooperates with the Administrative and Budget Committee.
The scale of contributions is determined using the criterion - the solvency of the state. The definition here depends on the share of gross national product, per capita income and many other factors. Moreover, every three years, after studying statistical data, this scale changes indicators in accordance with the economic situation throughout the world.
In addition to the regular budget, the UN has an additional one - spending on tribunals and peacekeeping operations. Members of the organization also support him with their contributions.
Do not forget that the United Nations has many funds, each of which has its own budget. It is “fed” voluntarily by either states or private individuals. Other UN agencies also have their own budget, including the UN Security Council. A permanent member is also involved in budgeting.
Historical decisions
Speaking of objectivity in the decision-making, of course, it is worth noting the most scandalous decisions that influenced the course of events and once again showed that the adoption of a UN Security Council resolution does not always lead to a peaceful settlement of the conflict.
The first critical decision for the world was the news of the partition of Palestine. In 1947, the question arose of building two countries on the territory - Arab and Jewish. Jerusalem and Bethlehem were supposed to be under international influence. The very next year, a real confrontation between Jews and Arabs arose in Palestine. When Israel triumphed, it seized territory much more. It is worth saying that from time to time the consequences of this decision are reflected on the situation in the country and now.
Later, already in 1975, a resolution arose on Zionism. Then the UN and Israel again clashed in misunderstanding. Then the UN Security Council passed decisions on the elimination of all forms of racism and discrimination. At the same time, the United States expressed its disagreement and condemned the resolutions along with Israel, the European Parliament, Paraguay, Uruguay and South Africa. Already in 1991, the document lost its force.
In 2011, the United Nations Security Council adopted another resolution that called for foreign intervention in the Civil War in Libya. According to the documents, it was necessary to protect civilians. But in practice, it turned out that many civilian objects were under bombardment of the coalition. The result of this intervention was a huge number of victims, the defeat and killing of Gaddafi.
But the UN Security Council resolution on Kosovo is still controversial. It was adopted in 1999 and obliged the parties to eliminate hostilities and return the peaceful situation to the country. Moreover, this document indicates the provisions that are responsible for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Yugoslavia. Most voters were against the partition of the country and claimed information about the illegal declaration of independence of Kosovo.
Another of the dubious resolutions was adopted recently, in 2014. She spoke of the territorial integrity of Ukraine. The UN confirmed the illegal accession of Crimea to Russia, and the referendum, in their opinion, is not legitimate.
It should be understood that the work of this organization has both positive and negative sides.But despite the misunderstandings on the part of society, nevertheless, the Council is conscientiously responsible for international security and takes care of the peaceful resolution of conflicts.
