[79] Currently, elections for terms beginning in even-numbered years select two African members, and one each within Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean; the traditional "Arab seat" is elected for this term. The United States has unequivocally supported the permanent membership of Japan and lent its support to India and a small number of additional non-permanent members. Each member is entitled to a single vote, but the United Nations Charter require all member states to comply with the decisions made by the council. However, the Nationalists were forced to retreat to the island of Taiwan in 1949, during the Chinese Civil War. They annually topped the list of countries with the highest military expenditures. [96][103] By the time a resolution reaches the Security Council Chamber, it has already been discussed, debated, and amended in the consultations. Find out more about Security Council functions and powers, resolutions, statements, reports, rules of procedure and other issues. They subsequently agreed to split the term of the Western European and Others Group. [78], The African Group is represented by three members; the Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia-Pacific, and Western European and Others groups by two apiece; and the Eastern European Group by one. [71], An early veto by Soviet Commissar Andrei Vishinsky blocked a resolution on the withdrawal of French forces from the then-colonies of Syria and Lebanon in February 1946; this veto established the precedent that permanent members could use the veto on matters outside of immediate concerns of war and peace. [56] The Council exercised this power for the first time in March 2005, when it referred to the Court "the situation prevailing in Darfur since 1 July 2002"; since Sudan is not a party to the Rome Statute, the Court could not otherwise have exercised jurisdiction.
In 1994, the French ambassador complained to the Secretary-General that "informal consultations have become the Council's characteristic working method, while public meetings, originally the norm, are increasingly rare and increasingly devoid of content: everyone knows that when the Council goes into public meeting everything has been decided in advance". 'You may, if you wish,' he said, 'go home from this Conference and say that you have defeated the veto. Core members of the group include Canada, South Korea, Spain, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, Turkey, Argentina and Colombia. [101][102] As a result, the delegations can negotiate with each other in secret, striking deals and compromises without having their every word transcribed into the permanent record. [109], In September 2013, the UN had 116,837 peacekeeping soldiers and other personnel deployed on 15 missions. [77] A retiring member is not eligible for immediate re-election.
The same holds for certain decisions that directly regard permanent members. [52][53] Decisions taken under Chapter VII, such as economic sanctions, are binding on UN members; the Security Council is the only UN body with the authority to issue binding resolutions. The resolution sets out that mission’s mandate and size. About sixty member states have never been members of the Security Council. The current elected members, with the regions they were elected to represent, are as follows:[81][82][83][84], The role of president of the Security Council involves setting the agenda, presiding at its meetings and overseeing any crisis. [57][58] The Security Council made its second such referral in February 2011 when it asked the ICC to investigate the Libyan government's violent response to the Libyan Civil War. [65], The five permanent members of the Security Council were the victorious powers in World War II[66] and have maintained the world's most powerful military forces ever since.
The countries who have made the strongest demands for permanent seats are Brazil, Germany, India, and Japan.