This article needs to be updated.(July 2017) |
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is the organ of the United Nations charged with maintaining peace and security among nations. While other organs of the United Nations only make recommendations to member governments, the Security Council has the power to make decisions which member governments are obliged to carry out under the United Nations Charter. The decisions of the Council are known as United Nations Security Council Resolutions.
There have been three major events in Iraq's history for which the UN has passed numerous resolutions: the Iran–Iraq War, the Persian Gulf War, and the Iraq disarmament crisis leading up to and following the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Resolution | Date | Vote | Concerns |
---|---|---|---|
479 | 28 September 1980 | Unanimous | Noted the beginning of the Iran–Iraq War. |
514 | 12 July 1982 | Unanimous | Called for an end to the Iran–Iraq War. |
522 | 4 October 1982 | Unanimous | Called for an end to the Iran–Iraq War. |
540 | 31 October 1983 | 12-0-3 | Condemned violations of the Geneva Conventions in the Iran–Iraq War. Malta, Nicaragua, and Pakistan abstained. |
582 | 24 February 1986 | Unanimous | "Deplores" the use of chemical weapons in the Iran–Iraq War. |
588 | 8 October 1986 | Unanimous | Called for the implementation of resolution 582. |
598 | 20 July 1987 | Unanimous | Demanded an immediate cease-fire between Iran and Iraq; requested that the UN Secretary-General start an investigation to determine how the conflict started. |
612 | 9 May 1988 | Unanimous | Condemned the use of chemical weapons in the Iran–Iraq War, but did not single out Iraq as the only side to use them. Instead, the resolution said that the Security Council, "Expects both sides to refrain from the future use of chemical weapons." |
619 | 9 August 1988 | Unanimous | Created UNIIMOG to observe the implementation of a cease-fire for the Iran–Iraq War. Extended by resolutions 631, 642, 651, 671, 676 and 685. Terminated 28 February 1991. |
620 | 26 August 1988 | Unanimous | Condemned the use of chemical weapons in the Iran–Iraq War. |
660 | 2 August 1990 | 14-0-1 | Condemned the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and demanded a withdrawal of Iraqi troops. Supported by resolutions 662, 664, 665, 666, 667, 669, 670, 674, and 677. Yemen abstained. |
661 | 6 August 1990 | 13-0-2 | Placed economic sanctions on Iraq in response to the invasion of Kuwait. Cuba and Yemen abstained |
678 | 29 November 1990 | 12-2-1 | Authorized use of force against Iraq to "uphold and implement resolution 660 and all subsequent resolutions and to restore international peace and security in the area". Cuba and Yemen voted against the resolution while China abstained. |
686 | 2 March 1991 | 11-1-3 | Demanded Iraq's acceptance of all previous resolutions concerning the war with Kuwait. |
687 | 3 April 1991 | 12-1-2 | Formal ceasefire ending the Persian Gulf War, with the conditions that Iraq:
Cuba voted against the resolution while Ecuador and Yemen abstained. |
688 | 5 April 1991 | 10-3-2 | Condemned the repression of Iraqi Kurds. Cuba, Yemen, and Zimbabwe voted against the resolution while China and India abstained. |
707 | 15 August 1991 | Unanimous | Demands immediate, complete, full compliance with UNSCR 687. |
715 | 11 October 1991 | Unanimous | Approves United Nations Special Commission on Iraq and International Atomic Energy Agency inspection provisions. |
833 | 27 May 1993 | Unanimous | Acknowledges clarifications of Iraq-Kuwait border and United Nations Iraq-Kuwait Observation Mission (UNIKOM). |
899 | 4 March 1994 | Unanimous | Compensation payments to Iraqi private citizens whose assets remained on Kuwaiti territory following the demarcation of the Iraq-Kuwait border. |
949 | 15 October 1994 | Unanimous | Condemned the Iraqi military buildup on Kuwaiti border. |
986 | 14 April 1995 | Unanimous | Created the Oil-for-Food Programme. Supported by resolution 1111. |
1051 | 27 March 1996 | Unanimous | Created a mechanism to monitor Iraqi "dual use" import and exports. |
1060 | 12 June 1996 | Unanimous | Demands Iraq allow access to sites, weapons, transport and equipment by United Nations Special Commission weapons inspectors. |
1284 | 17 December 1999 | 11-0-4 | Changed the Iraqi inspection program from UNSCOM to UNMOVIC. |
1441 | 8 November 2002 | Unanimous | Gave Iraq "a final opportunity to comply with its disarmament obligations". After Hans Blix of UNMOVIC reported to the UN on 7 March 2003, the US, UK, and other members of the "coalition of the willing" declared that Iraq remained in material breach of resolution 687. Efforts aimed at a new Council resolution authorizing the invasion were aborted owing to resistance from other members of the Council including veto-wielding members. Iraq was invaded anyway, on 20 March. |
1483 | 22 May 2003 | 14-0-0 | Recognized the US and the UK as occupying powers under international law, with legitimate authority in Iraq. Removed economic sanctions imposed during the Gulf War. Syria did not vote on the measure. |
1500 | 14 August 2003 | 14-0-1 | Created the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq as a special representative of the UN Secretary General. Extended by resolutions 1557, 1619, and 1700. Syria abstained. |
1546 | 8 June 2004 | Unanimous | Endorsed the dissolution of the Coalition Provisional Authority in favor of the Iraqi Interim Government as a step toward democracy. |
1723 | 18 November 2006 | Unanimous | Extended the mandate for Multinational Force Iraq until 31 December 2007. |
1790 | 18 December 2007 | Unanimous | Extended the mandate for Multinational Force Iraq until 31 December 2008. |
2631 | 26 May 2022 | Unanimous |
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, and approving any changes to the UN Charter. Its powers include establishing peacekeeping operations, enacting international sanctions, and authorizing military action. The UNSC is the only UN body with the authority to issue binding resolutions on member states.
The United Nations General Assembly is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Currently, in its 76th session, its powers, composition, functions, and procedures are set out in Chapter IV of the United Nations Charter. The UNGA is responsible for the UN budget, appointing the non-permanent members to the Security Council, appointing the UN secretary-general, receiving reports from other parts of the UN system, and making recommendations through resolutions. It also establishes numerous subsidiary organs to advance or assist in its broad mandate. The UNGA is the only UN organ wherein all member states have equal representation.
The Iraq disarmament crisis was claimed as one of primary issues that led to the multinational invasion of Iraq on 20 March 2003. Since the 1980s, Iraq was widely assumed to have been producing and extensively running the programs of biological, chemical and nuclear weapons. Iraq made extensive use of chemical weapons during the Iran–Iraq War in the 1980s, including against its own Kurdish population. France and the Soviet Union assisted Iraq in the development of its nuclear program, but its primary facility was destroyed by Israel in 1981 in a surprise air strike.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441 is a United Nations Security Council resolution adopted unanimously by the United Nations Security Council on 8 November 2002, offering Iraq under Saddam Hussein "a final opportunity to comply with its disarmament obligations" that had been set out in several previous resolutions. It provided a justification for the subsequent US invasion of Iraq.
A United Nations Security Council resolution is a United Nations resolution adopted by the fifteen members of the Security Council (UNSC); the United Nations (UN) body charged with "primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security".
In March 2003 the United States government announced that "diplomacy has failed" and that it would proceed with a "coalition of the willing" to rid Iraq under Saddam Hussein of weapons of mass destruction the US and UK falsely insisted it possessed. The 2003 invasion of Iraq began a few days later.
The Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002, informally known as the Iraq Resolution, is a joint resolution passed by the United States Congress in October 2002 as Public Law No. 107-243, authorizing the use of the United States Armed Forces against Saddam Hussein's Iraq government in what would be known as Operation Iraqi Freedom.
The United States is a charter member of the United Nations and one of five permanent members of the UN Security Council.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 678, adopted on 29 November 1990, after reaffirming resolutions 660, 661, 662, 664, 665, 666, 667, 669, 670, 674 and 677, the council noted that despite all the United Nations efforts, Iraq continued to defy the Security Council.
A United Nations resolution is a formal text adopted by a United Nations (UN) body. Although any UN body can issue resolutions, in practice most resolutions are issued by the Security Council or the General Assembly.
United Nations Security Council resolution 1483, adopted on 22 May 2003, after recalling all previous resolutions on the situation between Iraq and Kuwait, the Council lifted trade sanctions against Iraq and terminated the Oil-for-Food Programme.
The United Nations Security Council veto power is the power of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council to veto any "substantive" resolution. They also happen to be the nuclear-weapon states (NWS) under the terms of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). However, a permanent member's abstention or absence does not prevent a draft resolution from being adopted. This veto power does not apply to "procedural" votes, as determined by the permanent members themselves. A permanent member can also block the selection of a Secretary-General, although a formal veto is unnecessary since the vote is taken behind closed doors.
The use of force by states is controlled by both customary international law and by treaty law. The UN Charter reads in article 2(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.
Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter sets out the UN Security Council's powers to maintain peace. It allows the Council to "determine the existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression" and to take military and nonmilitary action to "restore international peace and security".
A dispute exists over the legitimacy of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The debate centers around the question whether the invasion was an unprovoked assault on an independent country that may have breached international law, or if the United Nations Security Council authorized the invasion. Those arguing for its legitimacy often point to Congressional Joint Resolution 114 and UN Security Council resolutions, such as Resolution 1441 and Resolution 678. Those arguing against its legitimacy also cite some of the same sources, stating they do not actually permit war but instead lay out conditions that must be met before war can be declared. Furthermore, the Security Council may only authorise the use of force against an "aggressor" in the interests of preserving peace, whereas the 2003 invasion of Iraq was not provoked by any aggressive military action.
The three-line United Nations Security Council Resolution 338, adopted on October 22, 1973, called for a ceasefire in the Yom Kippur War in accordance with a joint proposal by the United States and the Soviet Union. The resolution stipulated a cease fire to take effect within 12 hours of the adoption of the resolution. The "appropriate auspices" was interpreted to mean American or Soviet rather than UN auspices. This third clause helped to establish the framework for the Geneva Conference (1973) held in December 1973.
The 2003 invasion of Iraq by the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Poland and a coalition of other countries was a violation of the United Nations Charter, the bedrock of international relations in the post-World War II world. The then United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan stated in September 2004 that: "I have indicated it was not in conformity with the UN charter. From our point of view and the UN Charter point of view, it [the war] was illegal".
Chapter VI of the United Nations Charter deals with peaceful settlement of disputes. It requires countries with disputes that could lead to war to first of all try to seek solutions through peaceful methods such as "negotiation, enquiry, mediation, conciliation, arbitration, judicial settlement, resort to regional agencies or arrangements, or other peaceful means of their own choice." If these methods of alternative dispute resolution fail, then they must refer it to the UN Security Council. Under Article 35, any country is allowed to bring a dispute to the attention of the UN Security Council or the General Assembly. This chapter authorizes the Security Council to issue recommendations but does not give it power to make binding resolutions; those provisions are contained in Chapter VII. Chapter VI is analogous to Articles 13-15 of the Covenant of the League of Nations which provide for arbitration and for submission of matters to the Council that are not submitted to arbitration. United Nations Security Council Resolution 47 and United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 are two examples of Chapter VI resolutions which remain unimplemented.
United Nations Security Council resolution 1129, adopted on 12 September 1997, after recalling all previous resolutions on Iraq, including resolutions 986 (1995) and 1111 (1997) concerning the Oil-for-Food Programme, the Council decided that the provisions of Resolution 1111 would remain in force, but permitted special provisions to allow Iraq to sell petroleum in a more favourable time frame.