Uruguay holds UN Security Council presidency for May

The Uruguay on Monday will officially hold the United Nations Security council (UNSC) presidency replacing the United States of America.

Under the UN Charter, the Security Council has primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security, all member states are obligated to comply with Council decisions.

Permanent representative of Uruguay, Elbio Rosselli,took over the rotating council presidency from Permanent Representative of the United States Samantha Power, who held the council presidency for December.

Rosselli will hold a press briefing Monday evening at the UN headquarters in New York to share programs of work for the month.

The UN body has 15 members, and each member has one vote, the permanent members of the council known as the “Permanent Big Five”, including China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, while the ten non-permanent members elected for two-year terms by the General Assembly including Egypt, Japan, Senegal, Ukraine, Uruguay, New Sweden, Bolivia, Ethiopia, Italy and Kazakhstan.

The Security Council is one of the six main organs of the UN, which also include the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council, the International Court of Justice and the UN Secretariat.

All six organs were established in 1954, after the UN was founded.