UNSC

1.Why in news?

 December of 2022 began with India assuming the presidency of two global bodies — G20 on the first day of the month and UNSC on the second.

2.What is UNSC

• The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) was established by the UN Charter in 1945. It is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations.
•  The other 5 organs of the United Nations are the General Assembly (UNGA), the Trusteeship Council, the Economic and Social Council, the International Court of Justice, and the Secretariat. The council is headquartered at New York.
• The council has 15 members: the five permanent members and ten non-permanent members elected for two-year terms. The five permanent members are the United States, the Russian Federation, France, China and the United Kingdom.
• Every year, the General Assembly elects five non-permanent members (out of ten in total) for a two-year term. The ten non-permanent seats are distributed on a regional basis. The council’s presidency is a capacity that rotates every month among its 15 members.
• 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
• It should be noted that any member of the United Nations which 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 specially affected

3.Roles and powers of UNSC

• Some of the significant roles of the UNSC broadly include maintaining “international peace in accordance with the principles and purposes of the United Nations,”and “to determine the existence of a threat to the peace or act of aggression and to recommend what action should be taken.”
• The Council President, according to the UNSC handbook, exercises a vast range of powers such as holding meetings of the Security Council, approving provisional agendas, signing records of the meetings, besides other crucial decisions.
• On the first working day of the presidency, the Council president holds an informal breakfast to discuss the draft programme, which is “attended by the permanent representatives of all Council members.”
• The programme of work (PoW) — which in simpler terms, is a calendar of priorities which the President nation would work towards during its tenure
• Each of its 15 member states assume its presidency for a duration of one month, following the English alphabetical order.
• India had also been in the presidential position in August 2021
• India’s PoW includes briefings, consultations and reports on global developments in Syria, Libya, Middle East, Colombia, South Sudan, and Congo among others.