Statement of the Under-Secretary-General at the Open Meeting of the Security Council on Protection Civilians in Armed Conflict, June 28, 2006

Egyptian scholar-diplomat Boutros Boutros-Ghali’s relationship with the UN Security Council was a difficult one, resulting eventually in him earning the unenviable record of being the only Secretary-General to have been denied a second term in office. Boutros-Ghali bluntly condemned the double standards of the powerful Western members of the Council—the Permanent Three (P3) of the US, Britain, and France—in selectively authorizing UN interventions in “rich men’s wars” in Europe while ignoring Africa’s “orphan conflicts.” The Council’s powerful members ignored many of his ambitious ideas, preferring instead to retain tight control of decision-making on UN peacekeeping missions. Boutros-Ghali worked with the Security Council to establish peacekeeping missions in Bosnia, Cambodia, Haiti, Rwanda, and Somalia.

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Trygve Lie, 1946–1953

10.1093/oso/9780198748915.003.0002 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Ellen Jenny Ravndal

Keyword(s):

Cold War ◽

Soviet Union ◽

Security Council ◽

The United States ◽

Secretary General ◽

International Peace ◽

Political Role ◽

The Soviet Union ◽

Peace And Security ◽

Political Negotiation

This chapter explores all aspects of Trygve Lie’s interaction with the Security Council, beginning with his appointment process and the negotiation of the relative domains of the Council and the Secretary-General. This was a time when the working methods of the UN system were rapidly evolving through political negotiation and responses to external crises. It examines Lie’s personality and character, how he viewed his own responsibilities in the maintenance of international peace and security as crises arose, the legal and political tools he developed and exercised, and his changing relationship with individual permanent members and the six elected members. In the emerging Cold War, Lie’s position in the Security Council would be determined in particular by his relationships with the United States and the Soviet Union. Taking initiative in response to external crises in Iran, Palestine, Berlin, and Korea, Lie succeeded in laying foundations for an expanded political role for the Secretary-General.

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The UN Secretary-General and the Security Council

10.1093/oso/9780198748915.001.0001 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Keyword(s):

United Nations ◽

Security Council ◽

United Nations Security Council ◽

Secretary General ◽

Organizational Relationships ◽

Dynamic Relationship ◽

International Mediation ◽

The United Nations ◽

The Relationship

The United Nations Secretary-General and the United Nations Security Council spend significant amounts of time on their relationship with each other. They rely on each other for such important activities as peacekeeping, international mediation, and the formulation and application of normative standards in defense of international peace and security—in other words, the executive aspects of the UN’s work. The edited book The UN Secretary-General and the Security Council: A Dynamic Relationship aims to fill an important lacuna in the scholarship on the UN system. Although there exists an impressive body of literature on the development and significance of the Secretariat and the Security Council as separate organs, an important gap remains in our understanding of the interactions between them. Bringing together some of the most prominent authorities on the subject, this volume is the first book-length treatment of this topic. It studies the UN from an innovative angle, creating new insights on the (autonomous) policy-making of international organizations and adding to our understanding of the dynamics of intra-organizational relationships. Within the book, the contributors examine how each Secretary-General interacted with the Security Council, touching upon such issues as the role of personality, the formal and informal infrastructure of the relationship, the selection and appointment processes, as well as the Secretary-General’s threefold role as a crisis manager, administrative manager, and manager of ideas.

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General Assembly

International Organization ◽

10.1017/s0020818300010195 ◽

1960 ◽

Vol 14 (4) ◽

pp. 563-575

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Soviet Union ◽

Security Council ◽

Secretary General ◽

General Assembly ◽

Special Session ◽

New Members ◽

The Soviet Union

The fourth emergency special session of the General Assembly, summoned by the Secretary-General in accordance with a resolution adopted by the Security Council at its 906th meeting on September 16, 1960, was held from September 17 through 19, 1960. During consideration of the provisional agenda, Mr. Wadsworth (United States) suggested that the admission of new members, scheduled for the regular fifteenth session of the General Assembly, be added to the agenda of the emergency session as item No. 1. After objections to this addition were voiced by the Soviet Union, several African states, and others, on the ground that the necessary documents were not yet in the hands of the Assembly, a proposal by the representative of Guinea for postponement of the matter was adopted by 43 votes to none, with 26 abstentions.

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Outline of legal aspects of the conflict in the Middle East

International Review of the Red Cross ◽

10.1017/s0020860400081225 ◽

1991 ◽

Vol 31 (280) ◽

pp. 28-30

Keyword(s):

Middle East ◽

Security Council ◽

Armed Conflict ◽

Legal Aspects ◽

Security Council Resolution ◽

Military Action ◽

Geneva Conventions ◽

Middle East Conflict

The Middle East conflict is beyond any doubt an international armed conflict as defined in Article 2 common to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949.The fact that military action has been authorized by security council resolution 678 does not affect this definition or the application of the laws of armed conflict.

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2. Memorandum on the Legal Aspects of the Problem of Representation in the United Nations, Transmitted to the President of the Security Council by the Secretary-General (Lie), March 8, 1950.

International Organization ◽

10.1017/s0020818300029374 ◽

1950 ◽

Vol 4 (2) ◽

pp. 356-360

Keyword(s):

United Nations ◽

Security Council ◽

Legal Theory ◽

Legal Aspects ◽

Secretary General ◽

Member States ◽

Practical Standpoint ◽

The United Nations

The primary difficulty in the current question of the representation of Member States in die United Nations is that this question of representation has been linked up with the question of recognition by Member Governments.It will be shown here that this linkage is unfortunate from the practical standpoint, and wrong from the standpoint of legal theory.

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