India will take over the Presidency of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC)

India will take over the Presidency of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC)

Subject: International Relations

Context: India will take over the Presidency of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on August 1 and is set to host signature events in three major areas of maritime security, peacekeeping and counterterrorism during the month.

Context:

• The Security Council 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, the Trusteeship Council, the Economic and Social Council, the International Court of Justice, and the Secretariat.
• Its primary responsibility is to work to maintain international peace and
• The council has 15 members: the five permanent members and 10 non-permanent members elected for two-year term
• The five permanent members are the United States, the Russian Federation, France, China and the United Kingdom.
• 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 member’s blocks the passage of the resolution.
• 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.
• The council’s presidency is a capacity that rotates every month among its 15 members.
• The council is headquartered at New York.

Non-permanent member of the Security Council

• The UNSC is composed of 15 members: five permanent members, and 10 non-permanent members who are elected by the General Assembly.
• The non-permanent members are elected for two-year terms — so every year, the General Assembly elects five non-permanent members out of the total 10.
• These 10 seats are distributed among the regions of the world: five seats for African and Asian countries; one for Eastern European countries; two for Latin American and Caribbean countries; and two for Western European and Other Countries.
• India has earlier been a non-permanent member of the Security Council in 1950-51, 1967-68, 1972-73, 1977-78, 1984-85, 1991-92 and 2011-12.
• Even a country has been endorsed by its group, it still needs to secure the votes of two-thirds of the members present and voting at the General Assembly session— which is a minimum of 129 votes, if all 193 member states participate.