ADVANCE VERSION Repertoire of the Practice of the Security Council 22nd Supplement 2019 Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs - Security Council Affairs Division Security Council Practices and Charter Research Branch Part II Provisional rules of procedure and related procedural developments Repertoire website: https://www.un.org/securitycouncil/content/repertoire/structure Repertoire of the Practice of the Security Council ADVANCE VERSION 22nd Supplement (2019) Contents Introductory note ............................................................................................................................. 2 I. Meetings and records ................................................................................................................... 5 Note .............................................................................................................................................. 5 A. Meetings ................................................................................................................................ 10 B. Informal consultations of the whole ..................................................................................... 17 C. Other informal meetings of the members of the Security Council ...................................... 18 D. Discussion concerning meetings ........................................................................................... 22 E. Records ................................................................................................................................. 27 II. Agenda ..................................................................................................................................... 28 Note ............................................................................................................................................ 28 A. Adoption of the agenda (rule 9) ............................................................................................ 30 B. Matters of which the Security Council is seized (rules 10 and 11) ....................................... 35 C. Discussions concerning the agenda ...................................................................................... 41 III. Representation and credentials ............................................................................................... 50 Note ............................................................................................................................................ 50 IV. Presidency ............................................................................................................................... 53 Note ............................................................................................................................................ 53 A. Role of the President of the Security Council (rules 18 and 19)........................................... 54 B. Discussions concerning the presidency of the Security Council .......................................... 60 V. Secretariat................................................................................................................................. 63 Note ............................................................................................................................................ 63 VI. Conduct of business ................................................................................................................ 67 Note ............................................................................................................................................ 67 VII. Participation........................................................................................................................... 72 Note ............................................................................................................................................ 72 A. Invitations extended under rule 37 ....................................................................................... 74 B. Invitations extended under rule 39 ....................................................................................... 75 C. Invitations not expressly extended under rule 37 or rule 39 ................................................ 78 D. Discussions relating to participation .................................................................................... 80 VIII. Decision-making and voting ................................................................................................ 84 Note ............................................................................................................................................ 84 A. Decisions of the Council ...................................................................................................... 87 B. Penholdership and sponsorship in accordance with rule 38.................................................. 89 C. Decision-making by voting .................................................................................................. 92 D. Decision-making without a vote .......................................................................................... 96 E. Discussions concerning the decision-making process........................................................... 97 IX. Languages ............................................................................................................................. 101 Note .......................................................................................................................................... 101 X. Provisional status of the rules of procedure ........................................................................... 104 Note .......................................................................................................................................... 104 1 Part II – Provisional rules of procedure Repertoire Repertoire website: https://www.un.org/securitycouncil/content/repertoire/structure Repertoire of the Practice of the Security Council ADVANCE VERSION 22nd Supplement (2019) Introductory note Part II of the present Supplement covers the practice of the Security Council in relation to its provisional rules of procedure and relevant Articles of the Charter of the United Nations. Since the provisional rules of procedure are routinely applied by the Council at its formal meetings, the focus of part II is on special applications of the rules in the proceedings of the Council, rather than on the standard applications of the rules. Part II is divided into 10 sections, in the order of the relevant chapters of the provisional rules of procedure, as follows: section I, meetings and records (Article 28 of the Charter and rules 1 to 5 and 48 to 57); section II, agenda (rules 6 to 12); section III, representation and credentials (rules 13 to 17); section IV, presidency (rules 18 to 20); section V, Secretariat (rules 21 to 26); section VI, conduct of business (rules 27, 29 and 30, and 33); section VII, participation (rules 37 and 39); section VIII, decision-making and voting (Article 27 of the Charter and rules 31, 32, 34 to 36, 38 and 40); section IX, languages (rules 41 to 47); and section X, provisional status of the rules of procedure (Article 30 of the Charter). The remaining rules are covered in other parts of the present Supplement, as follows: rule 28, concerning subsidiary organs of the Council, in parts IX and X and concerning Security Council missions, in part VI; and rule 61, regarding relations with other United Nations organs, in part IV. During the period under review, there were no instances of the application of rules 58 to 60, concerning the admission of new Members, and therefore the present Supplement contains no material relating to those rules. * * * During the period under review, the Council held a total of 258 meetings. Most of the meetings were public, with a total of 243 public meetings and 15 private meetings held in 2019. The Council held a total of 135 informal consultations of the whole in 2019 and Council members continued to meet in the framework of informal interactive dialogues and Arria- formula meetings, following past practice. During the period under review, the Council 2 Part II – Provisional rules of procedure Repertoire Repertoire website: https://www.un.org/securitycouncil/content/repertoire/structure Repertoire of the Practice of the Security Council ADVANCE VERSION 22nd Supplement (2019) continued to expand the practice of holding informal “wrap-up” sessions at the end of the month, except for the months of January and February, in which no wrap-up session was held. For the months of March and April, France and Germany held a joint informal wrap-up session at the end of April 2019. In 2019, the Council was seized of 69 items. The Council introduced the item entitled “The situation in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela” in the list of matters of which it was seized. While being seized of 69 items, the Council considered 49 items during its meetings. Of the 49 items considered in meetings of the Council in 2019, 27 concerned country-specific and regional situations, and 22 dealt with thematic and other issues. During the period under review, the Council adopted 52 resolutions and 15 presidential statements. The Council also issued 18 notes and 32 letters by the President. There were three instances in which draft resolutions were not adopted for lack of the required nine affirmative votes, and three instances in which draft resolutions were not adopted