The United Nations has its fingers in many pies — economic development, social progress, full employment — but its focus is certainly on security. Partly this can be traced to the circumstances of its establishment at the end of the second world war with the understanding that emerging nuclear weapons, capable of wiping out whole cities in an instant, would make a third world war cataclysmic. The UN charter reflects this concern, giving top ranking in the first article of the first chapter to the preservation of “international peace and security and “collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace.”

On this day the United Nations Security Council held its first ever meeting, at the historic Church House, Westminster, London. The Council was, and still is composed of permanent members, victors of World War II – United States, Russia (formerly USSR), China, France and UK, along with a rotating cast on non-permanent ones. A rotating cast of non-permanent members rounds out the Council membership.

One of the strongest powers of the UNSC comes from Chapter VII of the charter, which allows it to use force to suppress conflicts or bring about peace. The key Article 42 of the chapter states member states “may take such action by air, sea, or land forces as may be necessary to maintain or restore international peace and security.” Chapter VII resolutions have been invoked a number of times, including against Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda in October of 1999.