United Nations Security Council: Encyclopedia II - United Nations Security Council - Members

United Nations Security Council - Members

A Security Council member must always be present at UN headquarters in New York so that the Security Council can meet at any time. This requirement of the United Nations Charter was adopted to address a weakness of the League of Nations since that organization was often unable to respond quickly to crises.

In the role of president of the Security Council, it involves setting the agenda, presiding at its meetings and overseeing any crisis. It alternates in alphabetical order of the members' names in English.

There are two categories of membership in the UN Security Council: Permanent Members and Elected Members.

United Nations Security Council - Permanent members

The Council has five permanent members:

• People's Republic of China
• French Republic
• Russian Federation
• United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
• United States of America

The permanent members were originally drawn from the victorious powers after World War II: the Republic of China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In 1971, the People's Republic of China was awarded the Republic of China's seat in the UN by UN General Assembly Resolution 2758. In 1991, the Russian Federation acquired the seat originally held by the Soviet Union, including the Soviet Union's former representation in the Security Council.

Currently the five members are the only nations permitted to possess nuclear weapons under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which lacks universal validity, as not all nuclear nations have signed the treaty. This nuclear status is not the result of their Security Council membership, though it is sometimes used as a modern-day justification for their continued presence on the body. India, Pakistan, possibly North Korea and Israel (though Israel has never itself admitted to nuclear weapons possession) possess nuclear weapons outside of the anti-proliferation framework established by the Treaty.

Each permanent member state has veto powers, which can be used to void any resolution. A single blocking veto outweighs any majority. (This is not technically a veto it is just a nay vote, however any nay vote means the resolution fails)

United Nations Security Council - Elected members

Ten other members are elected by the General Assembly for 2-year terms starting on January 1, with five replaced each year. The members are chosen by regional groups and confirmed by the United Nations General Assembly. The African group chooses two members; the North/South American, Asian, and Western European blocs choose two members each; and the Eastern European bloc chooses one member. The last seat rotates every two years between Asia and Africa, currently Africa.

The current (2006) elected members are:

1. Argentina (Latin America)
2. Republic of the Congo (Africa)
3. Denmark (W. Europe)
4. Greece (S. Europe)
5. Ghana (Africa)
6. Japan (Asia)
7. Peru (Latin America)
8. Qatar (Asia)
9. Slovakia (E. Europe)
10. Tanzania (Africa)

See Elected members of the UN Security Council for other years.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Members", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki