About the UN Security Council

UN Security Council Working Methods

Security Council working methods is a complex and constantly evolving area of the Council’s practice. This section provides narrative descriptions of specific working methods, along with their history and modifications over the years and will serve as a resource to keep users up-to-date on topics such as the Council’s use of the veto, procedural votes, Arria-formula meetings or its visiting missions. View more

Programme of Work

Each month the UN Secretariat prepares a ‘provisional’ programme of work for the Security Council. This document is discussed by the members informally, initially in bilateral discussions between each of the members and the new president for the month. The presidency then, after making any adjustments, puts the document before the members in informal consultations. Once agreed, the document is posted on the UN website and it will also be available here. However, this is not a Council agenda in the formal sense. It remains provisional and is simply a framework for scheduling both formal and informal discussions of various issues expected to arise. View more

Current Security Council Members
SCR publications on Elections to the Security Council

Selecting the UN Secretary-General: Vetoes, Timing and Regional Rotation
Admission of New UN Members
Security Council Working Methods
Chairs of Subsidiary Bodies and Penholders for 2023
Security Council Deadlocks and Uniting for Peace
The Permanent Members and the Use of the Veto: An Abridged History
Security Council Subsidiary Bodies: An Overview
Non-Consensus Decision-Making in the Security Council: An Abridged Overview
UN Peacekeeping: Deployments and Budgets, 1946-2013
Article 27(3) and Parties to a Dispute: An Abridged History
Active Security Council Sanctions Regimes: An Abridged History

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