United Nations Security Council

“At this time of extreme challenges, we must not abandon the responsibility to protect or leave it in a state of suspended animation, finely articulated in words but breached time and again in

practice.” —António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations

Contents

Letter from the Director ...... 4

Mandate ...... 6

Research Note ...... 7

Relevant Excerpts from the Charter of the United Nations ...... 8

Chapter I. Purposes and Principles ...... 8

Chapter II. Membership ...... 9

Chapter V. The Security Council ...... 10

Chapter VI. Pacific Settlement of Disputes ...... 12

Chapter VII. Action with Respect to Threats to the Peace, Breaches of the Peace, and Acts of Aggression ...... 13

Agenda Item: Implementation of the Responsibility to Protect...... 18

Foundations ...... 18

The Security Council and the Responsibility to Protect ...... 20

Members ...... 23

Letter from the Director

Dear Delegates,

I am excited to welcome you to an educational and entertaining simulation of the United Nations Security Council at WUMUNS XIII. I am a member of the class of 2021 majoring in political science, and I have been involved in Model United Nations since my first year of high school, where I founded our middle- and high-school conferences and expanded our team’s competitive capacity. At WashU, I am treasurer of the International Relations Council, the parent organization for WUMUNS. I was director-general of operations for WUMUNS XII, under-secretary-general for internal operations for WUMUNS XI, and a crisis analyst for WUMUNS X. I have also chaired and staffed committees at WUMUNC, our college-level conference. In addition to directing the Security Council this year, I am working with the Secretariat as special advisor for operations to ensure the transfer of operations knowledge from year to year. Outside of Model UN, I play trumpet in the WashU Wind Ensemble and the Bear Nation Varsity Band, WashU’s student- run pep band. I am also proficient in Gregorian chant, and I enjoy reading detective stories and consuming considerable quantities of chocolate.

I am sure many of you are expecting a Security Council full of secret military missions to save the world from terrorists. Please allow me to destroy this illusion. Although the Security Council supervises peacekeeping operations, we will not be spending our time discussing the minutiae of troop movements and figuring out which weapons peacekeepers should use. The reasons for this decision are theoretical (there is a whole bureaucracy at the United Nations devoted to peacekeeping operations so the Security Council does not get bogged down with the details) and practical (such an agenda allows the delegate who knows the name of every weapon in the world to dominate committee without demonstrating any diplomatic ability). Instead, this Security Council will allow you to hone your diplomatic skills as you ensure international peace and security through political, rather than tactical, activity.

Our Security Council will strive to simulate the real organ in New York while maintaining the spontaneity of crises for which WUMUNS is known. You will have the

4 opportunity to debate an agenda item known in advance (implementation of the responsibility to protect) and will also be presented with situations that arise suddenly. This hybrid system will reward previous preparation as well as in-the-moment problem-solving. To succeed in this simulation, you will need to research the agenda item and your assigned country and accurately represent your country. You should have a good working knowledge of your country’s positions so that, in an unforeseen crisis, you can react appropriately as your country’s real diplomats would. Of course, there will be a mechanism for communicating with your government to gain its advice regarding the issues the council will discuss and any crises that emerge during our meetings. If you have any questions in the course of your preparation, please do not hesitate to email me at [email protected]. I look forward to seeing you virtually at WUMUNS XIII.

Sincerely yours,

Nathaniel Schetter

Mandate

The Charter of the United Nations provides the mandate of the Security Council: to maintain international peace and security.1 The powers of the Security Council are laid out in chapters VI, VII, VIII, and XII of the Charter. Our simulation may concern the following functions and powers:  to maintain international peace and security in accordance with the principles and purposes of the United Nations;  to investigate any dispute or situation which might lead to international friction;  to recommend methods of adjusting such disputes or the terms of settlement;  to formulate plans for the establishment of a system to regulate armaments;  to determine the existence of a threat to the peace or act of aggression and to recommend what action should be taken;  to call on UN members to apply economic sanctions and other measures not involving the use of force to prevent or stop aggression;  to take military action against an aggressor; and  to recommend the admission of new UN members.2

1. UN Charter art. 24, ¶ 1, https://www.un.org/en/sections/un-charter/chapter-v/index.html. 2. Adapted from “Functions and Powers,” United Nations Security Council, United Nations, accessed January 29, 2020, https://www.un.org/securitycouncil/content/functions-and-powers. 6

Research Note

Delegates should consult the United Nations Digital Library’s index of speeches (https://digitallibrary.un.org/search?ln=en&cc=Speeches) to find speeches given by their member state’s representatives. Speeches are valuable because they often provide a concise and clear articulation of the member’s position on an issue.

Relevant Excerpts from the Charter of the United Nations

Chapter I. Purposes and Principles Article 1

The Purposes of the United Nations are: 1. To maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace, and to bring about by peaceful means, and in conformity with the principles of justice and international law, adjustment or settlement of international disputes or situations which might lead to a breach of the peace; 2. To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace; 3. To achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion; and 4. To be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of these common ends.

Article 2

The Organization and its Members, in pursuit of the Purposes stated in Article 1, shall act in accordance with the following Principles. 1. The Organization is based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all its Members. 2. All Members, in order to ensure to all of them the rights and benefits resulting from membership, shall fulfill in good faith the obligations assumed by them in accordance with the present Charter. 3. All Members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security, and justice, are not endangered.

4. All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations. 5. All Members shall give the United Nations every assistance in any action it takes in accordance with the present Charter, and shall refrain from giving assistance to any state against which the United Nations is taking preventive or enforcement action. 6. The Organization shall ensure that states which are not Members of the United Nations act in accordance with these Principles so far as may be necessary for the maintenance of international peace and security. 7. Nothing contained in the present Charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state or shall require the Members to submit such matters to settlement under the present Charter; but this principle shall not prejudice the application of enforcement measures under Chapter VII.

Chapter II. Membership Article 4

1. Membership in the United Nations is open to all other peace-loving states which accept the obligations contained in the present Charter and, in the judgment of the Organization, are able and willing to carry out these obligations. 2. The admission of any such state to membership in the United Nations will be effected by a decision of the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council.

Article 5

A Member of the United Nations against which preventive or enforcement action has been taken by the Security Council may be suspended from the exercise of the rights and privileges of membership by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council. The exercise of these rights and privileges may be restored by the Security Council.

Article 6

A Member of the United Nations which has persistently violated the Principles contained in the present Charter may be expelled from the Organization by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council.

Chapter V. The Security Council Composition

Article 23

1. The Security Council shall consist of fifteen Members of the United Nations. The Republic of China, France, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the United States of America shall be permanent members of the Security Council. The General Assembly shall elect ten other Members of the United Nations to be non-permanent members of the Security Council, due regard being specially paid, in the first instance to the contribution of Members of the United Nations to the maintenance of international peace and security and to the other purposes of the Organization, and also to equitable geographical distribution. 2. The non-permanent members of the Security Council shall be elected for a term of two years. In the first election of the non-permanent members after the increase of the membership of the Security Council from eleven to fifteen, two of the four additional members shall be chosen for a term of one year. A retiring member shall not be eligible for immediate re-election. 3. Each member of the Security Council shall have one representative.

Functions and Powers

Article 24

1. In order to ensure prompt and effective action by the United Nations, its Members confer on the Security Council primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security, and agree that in carrying out its duties under this responsibility the Security Council acts on their behalf.

2. In discharging these duties the Security Council shall act in accordance with the Purposes and Principles of the United Nations. The specific powers granted to the Security Council for the discharge of these duties are laid down in Chapters VI, VII, VIII, and XII. 3. The Security Council shall submit annual and, when necessary, special reports to the General Assembly for its consideration.

Article 25

The Members of the United Nations agree to accept and carry out the decisions of the Security Council in accordance with the present Charter.

Article 26

In order to promote the establishment and maintenance of international peace and security with the least diversion for armaments of the world's human and economic resources, the Security Council shall be responsible for formulating, with the assistance of the Military Staff Committee referred to in Article 47, plans to be submitted to the Members of the United Nations for the establishment of a system for the regulation of armaments.

Voting

Article 27

1. Each member of the Security Council shall have one vote. 2. Decisions of the Security Council on procedural matters shall be made by an affirmative vote of nine members. 3. Decisions of the Security Council on all other matters shall be made by an affirmative vote of nine members including the concurring votes of the permanent members; provided that, in decisions under Chapter VI, and under paragraph 3 of Article 52, a party to a dispute shall abstain from voting.

Procedure

Article 31

Any Member of the United Nations which is not a member of the Security Council may participate, without vote, in the discussion of any question brought before the Security

Council whenever the latter considers that the interests of that Member are specially affected.

Article 32

Any Member of the United Nations which is not a member of the Security Council or any state which is not a Member of the United Nations, if it is a party to a dispute under consideration by the Security Council, shall be invited to participate, without vote, in the discussion relating to the dispute. The Security Council shall lay down such conditions as it deems just for the participation of a state which is not a Member of the United Nations.

Chapter VI. Pacific Settlement of Disputes Article 33

1. The parties to any dispute, the continuance of which is likely to endanger the maintenance of international peace and security, shall, first of all, seek a solution by negotiation, enquiry, mediation, conciliation, arbitration, judicial settlement, resort to regional agencies or arrangements, or other peaceful means of their own choice. 2. The Security Council shall, when it deems necessary, call upon the parties to settle their dispute by such means.

Article 34

The Security Council may investigate any dispute, or any situation which might lead to international friction or give rise to a dispute, in order to determine whether the continuance of the dispute or situation is likely to endanger the maintenance of international peace and security.

Article 35

1. Any Member of the United Nations may bring any dispute, or any situation of the nature referred to in Article 34, to the attention of the Security Council or of the General Assembly. 2. A state which is not a Member of the United Nations may bring to the attention of the Security Council or of the General Assembly any dispute to which it is a party if it

12 accepts in advance, for the purposes of the dispute, the obligations of pacific settlement provided in the present Charter.

Article 36

1. The Security Council may, at any stage of a dispute of the nature referred to in Article 33 or of a situation of like nature, recommend appropriate procedures or methods of adjustment. 2. The Security Council should take into consideration any procedures for the settlement of the dispute which have already been adopted by the parties. 3. In making recommendations under this Article the Security Council should also take into consideration that legal disputes should as a general rule be referred by the parties to the International Court of Justice in accordance with the provisions of the Statute of the Court.

Article 37

1. Should the parties to a dispute of the nature referred to in Article 33 fail to settle it by the means indicated in that Article, they shall refer it to the Security Council. 2. If the Security Council deems that the continuance of the dispute is in fact likely to endanger the maintenance of international peace and security, it shall decide whether to take action under Article 36 or to recommend such terms of settlement as it may consider appropriate.

Article 38

Without prejudice to the provisions of Articles 33 to 37, the Security Council may, if all the parties to any dispute so request, make recommendations to the parties with a view to a pacific settlement of the dispute.

Chapter VII. Action with Respect to Threats to the Peace, Breaches of the Peace, and Acts of Aggression Article 39

The Security Council shall determine the existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression and shall make recommendations, or decide what measures

13 shall be taken in accordance with Articles 41 and 42, to maintain or restore international peace and security.

Article 40

In order to prevent an aggravation of the situation, the Security Council may, before making the recommendations or deciding upon the measures provided for in Article 39, call upon the parties concerned to comply with such provisional measures as it deems necessary or desirable. Such provisional measures shall be without prejudice to the rights, claims, or position of the parties concerned. The Security Council shall duly take account of failure to comply with such provisional measures.

Article 41

The Security Council may decide what measures not involving the use of armed force are to be employed to give effect to its decisions, and it may call upon the Members of the United Nations to apply such measures. These may include complete or partial interruption of economic relations and of rail, sea, air, postal, telegraphic, radio, and other means of communication, and the severance of diplomatic relations.

Article 42

Should the Security Council consider that measures provided for in Article 41 would be inadequate or have proved to be inadequate, it may take such action by air, sea, or land forces as may be necessary to maintain or restore international peace and security. Such action may include demonstrations, blockade, and other operations by air, sea, or land forces of Members of the United Nations.

Article 43

1. All Members of the United Nations, in order to contribute to the maintenance of international peace and security, undertake to make available to the Security Council, on its call and in accordance with a special agreement or agreements, armed forces, assistance, and facilities, including rights of passage, necessary for the purpose of maintaining international peace and security.

2. Such agreement or agreements shall govern the numbers and types of forces, their degree of readiness and general location, and the nature of the facilities and assistance to be provided. 3. The agreement or agreements shall be negotiated as soon as possible on the initiative of the Security Council. They shall be concluded between the Security Council and Members or between the Security Council and groups of Members and shall be subject to ratification by the signatory states in accordance with their respective constitutional processes.

Article 44

When the Security Council has decided to use force it shall, before calling upon a Member not represented on it to provide armed forces in fulfilment of the obligations assumed under Article 43, invite that Member, if the Member so desires, to participate in the decisions of the Security Council concerning the employment of contingents of that Member's armed forces.

Article 45

In order to enable the United Nations to take urgent military measures, Members shall hold immediately available national air-force contingents for combined international enforcement action. The strength and degree of readiness of these contingents and plans for their combined action shall be determined within the limits laid down in the special agreement or agreements referred to in Article 43, by the Security Council with the assistance of the Military Staff Committee.

Article 46

Plans for the application of armed force shall be made by the Security Council with the assistance of the Military Staff Committee.

Article 47

1. There shall be established a Military Staff Committee to advise and assist the Security Council on all questions relating to the Security Council's military requirements for

15 the maintenance of international peace and security, the employment and command of forces placed at its disposal, the regulation of armaments, and possible disarmament. 2. The Military Staff Committee shall consist of the Chiefs of Staff of the permanent members of the Security Council or their representatives. Any Member of the United Nations not permanently represented on the Committee shall be invited by the Committee to be associated with it when the efficient discharge of the Committee's responsibilities requires the participation of that Member in its work. 3. The Military Staff Committee shall be responsible under the Security Council for the strategic direction of any armed forces placed at the disposal of the Security Council. Questions relating to the command of such forces shall be worked out subsequently.

Article 48

1. The action required to carry out the decisions of the Security Council for the maintenance of international peace and security shall be taken by all the Members of the United Nations or by some of them, as the Security Council may determine. 2. Such decisions shall be carried out by the Members of the United Nations directly and through their action in the appropriate international agencies of which they are members.

Article 49

The Members of the United Nations shall join in affording mutual assistance in carrying out the measures decided upon by the Security Council.

Article 50

If preventive or enforcement measures against any state are taken by the Security Council, any other state, whether a Member of the United Nations or not, which finds itself confronted with special economic problems arising from the carrying out of those measures shall have the right to consult the Security Council with regard to a solution of those problems.

Article 51

Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations, until the Security Council has taken measures necessary to maintain international peace and security. Measures taken by Members in the exercise of this right of self-defence shall be immediately reported to the Security Council and shall not in any way affect the authority and responsibility of the Security Council under the present Charter to take at any time such action as it deems necessary in order to maintain or restore international peace and security.

Agenda Item: Implementation of the Responsibility to Protect

Foundations The responsibility to protect is an international commitment to halt genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity (often referred to as the atrocity crimes or the mass-atrocity crimes). The doctrine arose from the international community’s failure to adequately respond to mass atrocities in Rwanda and Srebrenica, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the 1990s.3 The UN General Assembly adopted the doctrine in paragraphs 138 and 139 of the 2005 World Summit Outcome: 138. Each individual State has the responsibility to protect its populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. This responsibility entails the prevention of such crimes, including their incitement, through appropriate and necessary means. We accept that responsibility and will act in accordance with it. The international community should, as appropriate, encourage and help States to exercise this responsibility and support the United Nations in establishing an early warning capability. 139. The international community, through the United Nations, also has the responsibility to use appropriate diplomatic, humanitarian and other peaceful means, in accordance with Chapters VI and VIII of the Charter, to help to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. In this context, we are prepared to take collective action, in a timely and decisive manner, through the Security Council, in accordance with the Charter, including Chapter VII, on a case-by-case basis and in cooperation with relevant regional organizations as appropriate, should peaceful means be inadequate and national authorities are manifestly failing to protect their populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. We stress the need for the General Assembly to

3. “What Is R2P?”, Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, accessed September 6, 2020, https://www.globalr2p.org/what-is-r2p/. 18

continue consideration of the responsibility to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity and its implications, bearing in mind the principles of the Charter and international law. We also intend to commit ourselves, as necessary and appropriate, to helping States build capacity to protect their populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity and to assisting those which are under stress before crises and conflicts break out.4 The doctrine recognizes the fundamental tension between preserving a state’s absolute sovereignty by forbidding invasion of it and halting atrocity crimes in a state. The doctrine takes for granted that sovereignty entails a responsibility to protect the population from atrocity crimes, and it proposes that states that fulfill their responsibility to protect their populations from atrocity crimes have less reason to fear unwelcome foreign invasion. The responsibility to protect has three pillars: 1. The protection responsibilities of the state (“Every state has the Responsibility to Protect its populations from four mass atrocity crimes: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.”); 2. International assistance and capacity building (“The wider international community has the responsibility to encourage and assist individual states in meeting that responsibility.”); and 3. Timely and decisive response (“If a state is manifestly failing to protect its populations, the international community must be prepared to take appropriate collective action, in a timely and decisive manner and in accordance with the UN Charter.”).5

4. UN General Assembly, Resolution 60/1, 2005 World Summit Outcome, A/RES/60/1 (Oct. 24, 2005), https://undocs.org/A/RES/60/1. 5. “What Is R2P?” 19

The Security Council and the Responsibility to Protect The Security Council has the responsibility to respond timely and decisively if a state is failing to protect its population from atrocity crimes. However, even the UN secretary- general has recognized that the Security Council has often failed to exercise this responsibility.6 States have proposed various methods to strengthen the effectiveness of the Security Council in response to actual and potential atrocity crimes. One proposal, from the cross-regional Accountability, Coherence, and Transparency (ACT) Group, is for the Security Council to adopt a voluntary code of conduct. The most significant provision of the ACT code of conduct is that member states “pledge in particular to not vote against a credible draft resolution before the Security Council on timely and decisive action to end the commission of genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes, or to prevent such crimes.”7 As of June 9, 2020, the ACT code of conduct boasts 122 supporters, including Security Council permanent members France and the United Kingdom and nonpermanent members Belgium, the Dominican Republic, Estonia, Germany, Indonesia, Niger, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Tunisia.8 Another proposal, by France and Mexico, is for a voluntary agreement by permanent members of the Security Council not to exercise the veto power in cases of mass atrocities.9 As of March 2020, 103 member states and two observers have signed the French-Mexican statement calling for such an agreement.10 Because it proposes a voluntary commitment, the French-Mexican proposal would not require an amendment to the Charter. The criteria for activating self-regulation by the permanent members has still not been defined. France

6. UN Secretary-General, Implementing the Responsibility to Protect: Accountability for Prevention, A/71/1016-S/2017/556, ¶ 28 (Aug. 10, 2017), https://undocs.org/A/71/1016. 7. Permanent Representative of Liechtenstein to the UN, Letter Dated 14 December 2015 from the Permanent Representative of Liechtenstein to the United Nations Addressed to the Secretary-General, A/70/621- S/2015/978, Annex I, ¶ 2 (Dec. 14, 2015), https://undocs.org/A/70/621. 8. Permanent Mission of Liechtenstein to the United Nations, List of Supporters of the Code of Conduct regarding Security Council Action against Genocide, Crimes against Humanity or War Crimes, as Elaborated by ACT, June 9, 2020, https://www.regierung.li/media/medienarchiv/2020-6- 9_CoC_List_of_supporters.pdf. 9. France and Mexico, Political Statement on the Suspension of the Veto in Case of Mass Atrocities, August 7, 2015, https://onu.delegfrance.org/IMG/pdf/2015_08_07_veto_political_declaration_en.pdf. 10. “Political Declaration on Suspension of Veto Powers in Cases of Mass Atrocities,” Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, August 1, 2015, last updated March 2020, https://www.globalr2p.org/resources/list-of-supporters-of-the-political-declaration-on-suspension-of- veto/. 20 envisions giving the UN secretary-general a key role in determining when a mass atrocity exists; the secretary-general would refer the matter to the Security Council on his own initiative or on a proposal from the high commissioner for human rights or a certain number of member states (France suggests fifty).11 The secretary-general has proposed a few techniques that the Security Council might use to ensure that its protective initiatives are appropriate and effective. He has particularly emphasized the importance of accountability (“that States and intergovernmental organizations that are assigned responsibility for implementing Security Council mandates are accountable to the Council”) and has recommended that the Security Council issue its mandates with time limitations or that it “request progress reports from States and intergovernmental organizations authorized to implement its mandates.”12 There are also opportunities for the Security Council to cooperate with regional and subregional organizations. Most regions now have human-rights mechanisms.13 These mechanisms “can help to prevent atrocity crimes by identifying potential risks, recommending actions and supporting capacity-building.”14 For example, the African Union has recently strengthened its early-warning system, and the European Union devised a toolkit to help prevent atrocity crimes.15 The Security Council could seek to develop partnerships and information-sharing networks with these regional and subregional human- rights mechanisms.

Questions to Consider

 Should the Security Council enforce the responsibility to protect as an international norm? If so, how should it enforce it?

11. French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, “Why France Wishes to Regulate Use of the Veto in the United Nations Security Council,” France Diplomacy, last accessed September 6, 2020, https://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/french-foreign-policy/united-nations/france-and-the-united- nations/france-and-the-united-nations-security-council/article/why-france-wishes-to-regulate-use. 12. UN Secretary-General, Implementing the Responsibility to Protect, ¶ 30. 13. “Websites Regional Human Rights Mechanisms and Arrangements,” Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, last accessed September 9, 2020, https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Countries/NHRI/Pages/Links.aspx. 14. UN Secretary-General, Implementing the Responsibility to Protect, ¶ 36. 15. UN Secretary-General, Responsibility to Protect: From Early Warning to Early Action, A/72/884- S/2018/525, ¶ 13 (June 1, 2018), https://undocs.org/A/72/884. 21

 Should the Security Council adopt proposals submitted by various members regarding the voting and the veto power? Are there other opportunities for reform that might prevent and halt atrocity crimes?  How should the Security Council increase accountability for member states and other bodies carrying out its mandates?  How should the Security Council cooperate with regional and subregional organizations to prevent and halt atrocity crimes?

Members

Belgium China (permanent member) Dominican Republic Estonia France (permanent member) Germany Indonesia Niger Russian Federation (permanent member) Saint Vincent and the Grenadines South Africa Tunisia United Kingdom (permanent member) United States (permanent member) Viet Nam