United Nations Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Security Council=== {{Main|United Nations Security Council}} [[File:Powell-anthrax-vial.jpg|thumb|[[Colin Powell]], the [[United States Secretary of State|US Secretary of State]], demonstrates a vial with [[Legitimacy of the 2003 invasion of Iraq#Weapons of Mass Destruction|alleged]] Iraq [[chemical weapon]] probes to the UN Security Council on [[United Nations Security Council and the Iraq War|Iraq war]] hearings, 5 February 2003.]] The Security Council is charged with maintaining peace and security amongst nations. While other organs of the UN can only make recommendations to member states, the Security Council has the power to make binding decisions that member states have agreed to carry out, under the terms of Charter Article 25.<ref name="Chapter|V" /> The decisions of the council are known as [[United Nations Security Council resolution]]s.{{sfn|Fasulo|2004|pp=39β43}} The Security Council is made up of fifteen member states: five permanent members (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States) and ten non-permanent members (currently [[Algeria]], [[Ecuador]], [[Guyana]], [[Japan]], [[Malta]], [[Mozambique]], the [[Republic of Korea]], [[Sierra Leone]], [[Slovenia]] and [[Switzerland]]).<ref>{{cite web|title=Current Members {{!}} United Nations Security Council|url=https://www.un.org/securitycouncil/content/current-members|access-date=6 February 2024|website=United Nations|archive-date=22 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220322232811/https://www.un.org/securitycouncil/content/current-members|url-status=live}}</ref> The five permanent members hold [[United Nations Security Council veto power|veto power]] over UN resolutions, allowing a permanent member to block adoption of a resolution, though not debate. The ten temporary seats are held for two-year terms, with five members elected each year by the General Assembly on a [[United Nations Regional Groups|regional basis]].{{sfn|Fasulo|2004|pp=40β41}} The presidency of the Security Council rotates alphabetically each month.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.un.org/en/sc/presidency/ |title=Security Council Presidency in 2017 |publisher=United Nations |access-date=2 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012154714/http://www.un.org/en/sc/presidency/ |archive-date=12 October 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page