The Security Council and International Law

Abstract

Any finding of a legal duty for states to use their powers as Security Council members for the prevention of atrocity crimes presupposes that the process within the Council is subject to regulation by law in the first place. The relationship between the Security Council and international law has been debated by legal scholars and the International Court of Justice from two different angles: firstly, with a view to the decisions taken by the organ as such and, secondly, with a focus on the participation of individual states in this collective decision-making process. From the former point of view, the question is whether or not the outcome of the Security Council’s process, i. e. namely its resolutions, can be unlawful.