Both the United Nations Organisation and the Non-Aligned Movement aim to achieve international peace and security. In this context, answer the following:
Mention any three functions of the Security Council.
Topic: Functions of the Security Council
Answer
(1) It bears the PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITY for maintaining international peace and security. It investigates any dispute likely to endanger peace and calls upon the parties to settle it by negotiation, arbitration or judicial settlement. (2) If peaceful means fail, it may impose ECONOMIC SANCTIONS — the severance of trade, transport and diplomatic relations — and if these prove inadequate, it may take MILITARY ACTION against the aggressor with forces supplied by member states. (3) It recommends the admission of new members to the General Assembly and the appointment of the Secretary-General, and together with the General Assembly it elects the judges of the International Court of Justice.
One mark per function. Cover different KINDS — peaceful settlement, enforcement, and elective — rather than three examples of the same thing. The distinction the examiner is testing: the Security Council can ENFORCE, while the General Assembly can only recommend. That is why the Council is called the executive organ of the UN. Composition worth one line: 15 members, 5 permanent with the veto (USA, Russia, Britain, France, China) and 10 elected for two years.