United Nations Security Council (UNSC)

About UNSC

• United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six main organs of the United Nations established by the UN Charter.
• Article 23 of the UN Charter concerns the composition of the UNSC.
• The other 5 organs of the UN are—the General Assembly, the Trusteeship Council, the Economic and Social Council, the International Court of Justice, and the Secretariat.
• The UNSC has been given primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security and may meet whenever peace is threatened.
• While other organs of the UN make recommendations to member states, only the Security Council has the power to make decisions that member states are then obligated to implement under the Charter.
• The Headquarters of the UNSC is in New York.

Members of UNSC

• UNSC has 15 members (5 are permanent and 10 non-permanent). Non-permanent members are elected for 2-year terms by the UNGA.
• Permanent 5 or P5 members: UNSC has 5 permanent members namely France, the UK, China, Russia and USA.
• 10 non-permanent seats are distributed on a regional basis
  • 5 for African and Asian States.
  • 1 for the Eastern Europe States
  • 2 for Latin American and the Caribbean States and
  • 2 for Western Europe and other States.
• Each year 193 member of UNGA elects 5 non-permanent members for a 2-year term at UNSC, with 5 replaced each year. A retiring member is not eligible for re-election.
• The council's presidency is a capacity that rotates every month among its 15 members.
• The Asia-Pacific Group gets to nominate one of its members for the 2020 elections for a non-permanent seat of the UNSC. India won the unanimous support of all countries in 55 member Asia Pacific Group at UN for its bid for a non-permanent seat at UNSC for a 2-year term in 2021-22.

Voting and Discussions at UNSC:

• Each member of the Security Council has one vote. Decisions of the Security Council on matters are made by an affirmative vote of nine members including the concurring votes of the permanent members.
• A "No" vote from one of the five permanent members blocks the passage of the resolution.
• Any member of the UN who is not a member of the Security Council may participate, without vote, in the discussion of any question brought before the Security Council whenever the latter considers that the interests of that member are especially affected.

India as a UNSC Presidency

• Recently, India assumed the presidency of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for the month of August 2021.
• This will be the country’s first presidency during its 2021-22 tenure as a non-permanent member of the Security Council.
• India began its two-year tenure as a non-permanent member of the UNSC in January 2021.
• This is India's eighth term on the UNSC.
• India is going to organise key events in three major areas of maritime security, peacekeeping and counter-terrorism.
• The Security Council will also have on its agenda several important meetings including Syria, Iraq, Somalia, Yemen, and the Middle East.
• The Security Council will also be adopting important resolutions on Somalia, Mali, & United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.
• Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi will be the first Indian PM to preside over a meeting of the UNSC.
• The last time an Indian PM was engaged in this effort was the then PM PV Narasimha Rao in 1992 when he attended a UNSC meeting.