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Interactive Handbook

Interactive Handbook of the Working Methods of the Security Council

The Handbook on the Working Methods of the Security Council, originally developed by the Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations, serves as a practical guide to the rules, practices and procedures of the Council. Powered by technology, this Handbook replaces prior versions published in hard copy which are available in the Reference documents section of this website. It is intended to be a new and enhanced contribution to better understand and implement the working methods of the Council as provided for in the notes by the President of the Security Council, the Provisional Rules of Procedure and the Charter of the United Nations.

The 16 thematic tiles below are based on the sections of the Note by the President of the Security Council dated 30 August 2017 (S/2017/507) and the themes of the notes subsequently adopted in 2019 and 2021 under the auspices of the Informal Working Group on Documentation and Other Procedural Questions (IWG). They offer easy access to the text of the notes which can also navigated in-depth via the search function.

Colorful covers of the UN Charter

UN Charter

The Charter of the United Nations is the founding document of the United Nations. Signed on 26 June 1945 in San Francisco, it came into force on 24 October 1945. The Charter is an instrument of international law, and UN Member States are bound by it. The Charter codifies the major principles of international relations, from sovereign equality of States to the prohibition of the use of force in international relations.

Speaking into the microphone, Koro Bessho, Permanent Representative of Japan to the UN and President of the Security Council for the month of December, chairs the Council's meeting on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

Provisional Rules
of Procedure

Article 30 of the Charter stipulates that the Security Council shall adopt its own rules of procedure. In 1946, the Council adopted its Provisional Rules of Procedure (S/96), which were subsequently modified on several occasions. The last revision was made in 1982 (S/96/Rev.7) in order to add Arabic as the sixth official language. Previous versions of the provisional rules of procedure were issued under the symbols S/96/Rev.1 to 6.

Taro Kono, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan and President of the Security Council for the month of December, stands at a podium and briefs journalists on the working methods of the Security Council.

Reference documents

Featured in this section is a comprehensive list of all notes by the President of the Security Council issued in connection with its working methods since 1993 as well as archival records of previous editions of the Handbook on the Working Methods of the Security Council (also known as the “Green Book”), a publication sponsored by Japan and Note 507 Plus, a publication sponsored by Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

Members in the chamber around the table, looking at a screen with Loraine Sievers (on screen), Director of Security Council Procedure and Co-author of “The Procedure of the UN Security Council”, briefs the Security Council meeting on working methods of the Security Council.

Implementation of
Note 507

The Implementation of Note 507 features a visual representation of the set of selected indicators included as part of the annual report of the Informal Working Group on Documentation and Other Procedural Questions (IWG) published for the first time in 2022 under the Chairmanship of Albania. The set of indicators offer a measurement of the level of implementation of the working methods agreed to by the members of the Security Council to achieve greater efficiency, transparency and effectiveness.