Corpus of Resolutions: UN Security Council (CR-UNSC)

Collects and presents all resolutions, drafts, and meeting records of the UN Security Council, including detailed metadata, as published by the UN Digital Library and revised by the authors.

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is the most influential of the principal UN organs. Composed of 5 permanent and 10 non-permanent members, its functioning is constrained by the political context in which it operates. During the Cold War, the complex political relationships between the permanent members and their veto powers significantly affected the capacity of the UNSC to address violations of international peace and security, with only 646 resolutions passed from 1946 to 1989. Since the 1990s, the activity of the UN Security Council has increased dramatically and produced 2721 resolutions up to the end of 2023. The length, complexity and thematic breadth of the resolutions has also increased, prompting calls to redefine it as a quasi-legislative body.

Under Articles 24 and 25 of the UN Charter, member states have conferred upon the UNSC the "primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security" and have agreed "to accept and carry out" its decisions. The discharge of this function is carried out through the powers bestowed upon it under Chapter VI of the UN Charter, "Pacific Settlement of Disputes", Chapter VII, "Action with Respect to Threats to the Peace, Breaches of the Peace, and Acts of Aggression", Chapter VIII, "Regional Arrangements", and Chapter XII, "International Trusteeship System". 

Under the peace and security mandate, its areas of activity cover disarmament, pacific settlement of disputes, enforcement, and, until 1994, strategic areas in a trusteeship agreement. Its functions also pertain to the correct working of the United Nations, covering issues of membership, the appointment of the Secretary General, the elections of judges of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the calling of special and emergency sessions of the General Assembly, the amendment of the Charter and of the ICJ Statute.