Despite the extraordinary authority placed in the United Nations Security Council, relatively little is known about its day-to-day workings outside its five permanent members and UN support staff. Indeed, the permanent members benefit from decades of continuous experience, as well as relatively large teams in New York and at their respective capitals devoted to international law and policy matters. Members elected for a two-year term at the Council often do not possess equivalent expertise, resources, and personnel.

In a series of primers, HLS PILAC seeks to help fill an arguable informational gap concerning international law and the Council between the permanent and elected members. Building off a 2020 general primer for elected members published by HLS PILAC, these new analyses are intended to furnish elected members with important additional information that they can use as they see fit. The primary target audience includes current and future elected members of the Council, in particular those States’ legal and policy advisers. The series’ objective is not to proscribe or prescribe particular approaches but, rather, to apprise States of certain key issues that may be borne in mind in navigating engagements with and at the Security Council.