Research Reports

Longer in-depth analysis of particularly significant Council decisions, processes or practices.

  • This report provides a historical and institutional context for understanding UN natural resource sanctions.

  • 19 October 2015

    The Veto

    Security Council Report has published a report on the veto. It discusses current initiatives on veto restraint and describes the impact of the veto, and the threat of the veto, on Council decision-making.

  • The most important decision that the Security Council will take in 2016 will be the selection of the ninth Secretary-General of the UN. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s term ends on 31 December 2016.

  • On 15 October, the General Assembly is expected to hold elections for five members of the Security Council. The new members will take up their seats on 1 January 2016 and will serve on the Council until 31 December 2017. 

  • 20 August 2015

    The Rule of Law

    This is SCR's third Cross-Cutting Report on the Rule of Law

  • This is Security Council Report’s seventh Cross-Cutting Report on Children and Armed Conflict, continuing a series that began in 2008.

  • This is Security Council Report’s seventh Cross-Cutting Report on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, continuing a series that began with the publication of our first report on the subject in 2008. 

  • On 16 October, the General Assembly is expected to hold elections for five members of the Security Council. The new members will take up their seats on 1 January 2015 and will serve on the Council until 31 December 2016. 

  • These reports systematically track the Security Council’s work on women, peace and security, highlighting trends that have developed since the matter first emerged as a distinct thematic issue in 2000. The present report covers the period of January to December 2013 and analyses statistical information on women, peace and security in country-specific decisions of the Security Council.

  • This is Security Council Report’s third Special Research Report on the working methods of the Security Council, examining almost exactly four years of developments within the Security Council, its Informal Working Group on Documentation and Other Procedural Questions and its other subsidiary bodies and comparing them to earlier findings.

  • 21 February 2014

    Children and Armed Conflict

    This is Security Council Report’s sixth Cross-Cutting Report on Children and Armed Conflict, continuing a series that began with the publication of our first report on the subject in 2008. It covers relevant developments at the thematic level over the 2012-2013 period. It analyses Council action in country-specific situations, as well as the output of the Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict. It also examines two sanctions regimes—Côte d’Ivoire and the Democratic Republic of the Congo—to illustrate the impact of sanctions on children and armed conflict. 

  • This is Security Council Report’s sixth Cross-Cutting Report on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, continuing a series that began with the publication of our first report on the subject in 2008. The present report covers relevant developments at the thematic level since our May 2012 Cross-Cutting Report and analyses Council action in country-specific situations relating to the protection of civilians, with a special focus on Sudan.

  • 25 November 2013

    UN Sanctions

    This Special Research Report provides an overview of UN sanctions with four main purposes: first, to provide a concise explanatory guide to the fundamentals of UN sanctions regimes; second, to offer a reference source of accessible data regarding UN sanctions regimes currently in force; third, to outline some significant trends in the evolution of UN sanctions; and fourth, to offer analysis of current Council dynamics and policy options regarding sanctions.

  • On 17 October, the General Assembly is expected to hold elections for five members of the Security Council. The new members will take up their seats on 1 January 2014 and will serve on the Council until 31 December 2015. 

  • This Special Research Report examines the work of the PBC—a relatively recent addition to the UN system—mainly in the country-specific contexts of its work: Sierra Leone, Burun­di, Liberia, Guinea-Bissau, Central African Republic and Guinea.