MISSION AND PURPOSE IN FULL

Security Council Report is an independent not-for-profit organisation in affiliation with Columbia University's Center on International Organization.  Security Council Report was founded with the encouragement of the former UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, and with the support of the governments of Canada and Norway, the Rockefeller Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, each of which have nominated representatives to the Governing Board.  The founding Executive Director is Ambassador Colin Keating of New Zealand. 

The vision for Security Council Report stems from the belief that the lack of consistent, high quality, publicly-available information about the Council's activities—and those of its subordinate bodies—is a consistent barrier to the effective performance of the Council itself as well as constituting a major handicap for the member states at large, and the wider public.

Security Council Report seeks to fill this gap by establishing an independent professional capacity, supported by a first-rate research staff, to provide timely, accurate and objective information and analysis on the activities of the Security Council.  Security Council Report publishes regular reports on the Council's existing and prospective agenda, supplemented by ad hoc Update Reports on breaking news.  The development of a longer term research programme focused on key thematic and structural issues confronting the Council will further support these efforts.

Security Council Report provides valuable information to a range of audiences including member states, particularly the ten elected members of the Council, but also the wider UN membership, the UN Secretariat itself, and the public.

SCR is entirely independent.  It will not take positions on the substance of resolutions before the Council.  But it brings to bear a searching and, perhaps at times critical eye on the information underpinning Council decisions.  It also tracks the performance of the Security Council and its subsidiary bodies in following through on its decisions.