The necessity to maintain International peace led to the establishment of the United Nations Organisation. With reference to the statement, answer the following:
State the Composition of the Security Council.
Topic: Composition of the Security Council
Answer
The Security Council consists of FIFTEEN members: (1) FIVE PERMANENT MEMBERS — the United States of America, Russia, the United Kingdom, France and China. Each holds the power of VETO, so that a single negative vote can defeat any substantive resolution. (2) TEN NON-PERMANENT MEMBERS, elected by the General Assembly for a term of TWO YEARS on the basis of geographical distribution, five retiring each year. A retiring member is not eligible for immediate re-election. (3) Each member has one representative and one vote. A substantive decision requires nine of the fifteen votes, including the concurring votes of all five permanent members.
Three marks: the permanent members, the non-permanent members with their term, and the voting rule. The VETO must be mentioned — it is what makes the five permanent members different and is the most criticised feature of the UN. The arithmetic (nine of fifteen INCLUDING all five permanent members) is the detail that marks a complete answer.