Research Reports
Longer in-depth analysis of particularly significant Council decisions, processes or practices.
-
Rapid advances in information and communications technology (ICTs), artificial intelligence (AI), and other new and emerging technologies are reshaping the parameters of international peace and security, influencing both the nature of conflict and the means by which it is prevented and managed. As technological convergence accelerates, risks are becoming more complex, interconnected, and difficult to anticipate. The implications of technological change are increasingly visible across issues already before the Security Council, including counter-terrorism, the protection of civilians, sanctions, peacekeeping, and women, peace and security. Yet Council engagement remains limited, fragmented, and politically contested, even as these technologies become more consequential for international peace and security.
-
Since the founding of the United Nations over 80 years ago, few issues have generated as much controversy among the world body’s membership, or so affected the Security Council’s work, as the veto accorded to the Council’s five permanent members (P5). Concerns among UN member states about the adverse effects of the veto (and the threat of the veto) remain intense and may even be on the rise. P5 disagreements that blocked effective Council action for well over a decade on Syria have also hindered meaningful engagement on issues such as Myanmar, Sudan, Ukraine and “The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question”.
-
This report reviews the A3’s development since its emergence in 2013. It examines the mechanisms that support its coordination, its engagement with Addis Ababa, and its role in advancing African positions in Council discussions and outcomes. The report also considers the recent “A3 Plus” format, highlights key achievements and challenges, and identifies lessons for incoming A3 members as they seek to build on the work of their predecessors.
-
This report examines whether the children and armed conflict agenda—which is considered one of the Security Council’s most developed thematic issues—is regressing, progressing, or being maintained. Focusing on the period between 2020 and 2024, the report analyses engagement on the agenda, both at the Council and subsidiary body level. Ahead of the 20th anniversary of landmark resolution 1612 of 26 July 2005, which established the Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism (MRM) and the Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, the report pays particular attention to the working group’s performance in recent years.
-
On 3 June, the 79th session of the UN General Assembly is scheduled to hold elections for membership of the Security Council.
-
To read the full report, please download the PDF here. At the end of January 2025, member states began the formal phase of the Peacebuilding Architecture Review (PBAR), a process undertaken every five years to strengthen and refine UN peacebuilding efforts...
-
Our latest policy paper provides an analysis of the Security Council’s activities regarding the peace and security aspects of the Pact for the Future and presents recommendations for building upon its related action points. While not intended as an exhaustive analysis of the international peace and security aspects of the Pact, the paper focuses on key areas where the Council has been actively engaged or where there is potential for greater involvement. It also briefly references other relevant parts of the Pact where they intersect with the Council’s work. Further, it includes a discussion of climate, peace and security—a topic removed from the final version of the Pact but which remains a significant area of interest for many Council members due to its prominence during negotiations.
-
It is important to closely examine the relationship between the Council and regional arrangements. With this in mind, this report seeks to provide insights into several aspects of the relationship, including the legal framework underpinning it and the manner in which it has worked in practice.
-
On 6 June, the 78th session of the UN General Assembly is scheduled to hold elections for membership of the Security Council.
-
Insights into the evolving discussion on peace operation transitions and examination of some transition cases exploring Security Council practice, analysis of emerging trends, identification of challenges, and drawing of lessons for planning and managing future transitions.
-
The 77th session of the UN General Assembly is scheduled to hold elections on 6 June for five non-permanent seats of the Security Council for the 2024-2025 term.
-
Security Council Report’s report of 2 May, Security Council Working Methods in Hard Times, analyses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine crisis on the Council’s working methods and on its transparency, effectiveness, and accountability. These events affected many aspects of life in the Council: how it meets, how it votes, whom it invites to participate in its meetings, and whom it hears from. They presented elected Council members with challenges but also opportunities to make a difference in the work of the Council. The report also covers the work of key groupings that helped shape the Council’s working methods during this period, including the Security Council’s Informal Working Group on Documentation and Other Procedural Questions (IWG) and the Accountability, Coherence and Transparency Group (ACT).
-
The financing of AU-led peace support operations (AUPSOs) has been an issue in the relationship between the UN and the AU in general, and between the Security Council and the AU Peace and Security Council (AUPSC) in particular, since 2007. Despite advances in recent years, the AU’s Achilles heel remains the lack of adequate resources to support and sustain these operations.
-
This report seeks to address how the Council has engaged with the climate change, peace and security dossier following the December 2021 veto of a draft resolution on this issue.
-
Just over a year ago, Ireland, Kenya and Mexico formed a “Presidency Trio for Women, Peace and Security” (WPS), pledging to make WPS “a top priority” of their respective presidencies in September, October and November 2021. During the press conference on the Council’s programme of work for September 2021, Ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason (Ireland) described the initiative as “a golden thread” that would run through the Irish, Kenyan and Mexican presidencies.
