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CAROLLANN BRAUM CYIL 6 ȍ2015Ȏ
the first half of the twentieth century would not be repeated.10 Therefore, as the
United Nations itself was being formed, the states, many of whom had been crippled
and devastated during the war, created a Security Council.11 This Council would be
made of five Permanent Members, who were in many ways the “victors” of the War
and were considered to be the major world powers of the day: the United States, the
Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, France and China.12 Additionally, there would
be six (this was later changed to be ten in 1966) places on the Council for other
UN Member States to hold a two-year term as a Non-Permanent Member through
election by the General Assembly.13
The Council is governed, as all sectors of the United Nations are, by the United
Nations Charter (hereinafter “the UN Charter”). There are several provisions that
regulate the conduct of and dictate the actions of the Council; however, for purposes
of our analysis, articles from Chapters I, V, and VII are of particular interest. These
provisions relate directly to aggression and the Council’s role. To begin with, the United
Nations as a whole, including the Council, is tasked under Chapter I, Article 1 with
maintaining
international peace and security, and to that end: to take effective collective measures
for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of
aggression or other breaches of the peace, and to bring about by peaceful means, and in
conformity with the principles of justice and international law, adjustment or settlement
of international disputes or situations which might lead to a breach of the peace.14
We can consider this to be a key mandate of the Council as a primary body of the
United Nations. This article is particularly interesting with respect to the role of the
Court, being an organ of justice and created by international law. When we arrive at
Chapter V of the UN Charter, which then speaks directly to the Security Council,
we see that the Council has priority in the mandate of maintaining peace and security
in Article 24(1):
In order to ensure prompt and effective action by the United Nations, its Members confer
on the Security Council primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace
and security, and agree that in carrying out its duties under this responsibility the Security
Council acts on their behalf.15
10 BOSCO, David L., Five to Rule Them All: The UN Security Council and the Making of the Modern World,
2009.
11 Id.
12 THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL, The United Nations Foundation, URL: .
>
[cit. 2015-08-14].
13 Id.
14 UN Charter, art. 1.
15 Id. at art. 24, para. 1.