How It's Used

"Now, everyone—including the Security Council's permanent five—must submit to a peer review every four years, with hearings held in public and webcast live. Critics fear a charade; defenders say the process should be given a chance to work."

—no author listed, "A screaming start: The UN and human rights," The Economist, April 26, 2008.

"And because the Security Council trumps national law, no one can challenge a 1267 listing in a national court. Getting off the list is daunting.

"An application for delisting can be made either by individuals or their country of citizenship or residence. Once made, the application is circulated to the country (or countries) that originally labelled them a terrorist and to their country of citizenship and residence. However, applicants aren't told what countries are involved, whether they took a position on the application for delisting or what that position was.

"Once a file is compiled, at least one of the existing 15 members of the committee—the permanent five members of the Security Council plus 10 nations elected for two-year rotating stints—must be willing to advocate bringing the delisting request to the entire committee. If that happens, then all 15 members must endorse the request or it is rejected."

—Paul Koring, "Trying to get off the UN's terrorist list described as ‘Kafkaesque,'" The Globe and Mail (Canada), May 16, 2008, p. A18.

"The UN security council is expected to vote tomorrow in support of new sanctions deepening the existing arms embargo against North Korea, in response to its second nuclear test carried out last month. The new resolution—agreed yesterday by the permanent five council members, plus Japan and South Korea—imposes a complete ban on North Korean arms exports, a principal source of foreign exchange earnings for the Pyongyang regime.

—Julian Borger, "North Korea facing tougher UN sanctions," The Guardian (UK), June 11, 2009.

"Last week, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Mohamed elBaradei attempted to whitewash Iran's nuclear weapons program by issuing a report ignoring substantial information about weaponization activities and downplaying continued noncooperation. Even the Obama administration apparently now understands that resuming the long-stalled 'Permanent-Five plus-one' negotiations (the U.N. Security Council's permanent members plus Germany) with Iran is highly unlikely to halt Tehran's nuclear ambitions."

—John Bolton, "Sanctions Won't Work Against Iran," The Wall Street Journal, September 1, 2009, p. A17.

"But Iran is where the administration is pinning most of its hopes about the perception of American engagement. At a news briefing on Thursday, the White House spokesman, Robert Gibbs, presented this latest metamorphosis of the administration's thinking: that engagement is not necessarily about the two adversaries, but rather, about the worldview on America. The White House, he said, is trying to get Russia and China to join the United States, Britain, France and Germany—a group referred to in diplomatic circles as the P5+1, for the permanent five members of the United Nations Security Council, plus Germany—in imposing harsher sanctions against Iran for its pursuit of a nuclear program. While it remains unclear whether the effort will succeed, Mr. Gibbs said Mr. Obama's outreach to Iran had paved the way for a united Security Council resolution."

—Helene Cooper, "U.S. Engagement With Iran Shifts to Worldview," The New York Times, February 16, 2010.

Also Known As (AKA)

P5, Permanent Five

Links

Beyond eAlmanac
Wikipedia article on the United Nations Security Council

Product Links
"Five to Rule Them All" by David L. Bosco (Oxford, 2009)