Summary:

The UN is considered to be a centre of multilateral democratic diplomacy. With its main bodies it covers practically every facet of international affairs – security affairs, economic affairs, cultural affairs, the codification of international law, the provision of humanitarian aid and so on. This article deals with the position of the Security Council in various relationships inside and outside the UN (i.e. towards the sovereign states) and it´s competencies. Thanks to its primary responsibility to provide peace and security it has (or should have) a vital role in international affairs. Unfortunately it does not always seem so. Special needs and interests of some statesoften cause the Security Council to be ´´inactive´´ or even ´´toothless´´. And there are many other problems – with its budget, robust bureaucracy, etc. that help raise debates about the need of reform – not just of the Security Council but of the whole UN as well. Never forget one historical fact – that the UN was built on the ash and ruins of the world after the Second World War. Let´s hope for the best – it means that mankind doesn´t need another devastating war which ´´helps´´ him build a new and more effective organization. Because it could occur that mankind will not need new organization any more... But I will try to focus on the other side – there are still problems which the UN (and quite often only the UN) can solve. And this is true for the Security Council as well. Slovakia assumed the presidency of the Security Council in February 2007 and we proved that even a small country can contribute to global security. One month is a very short time for resolving global problems but our biggest benefit was that we launched debates about the reform of the security sector – that is how to help post-war countries not to slip back in their previous turmoil. The Security Council has solved not just one big problem of the world. And one of the biggest appeared recently – terrorism. It´s one of the current global problems that the Security Council should address. But this is possible just when ´´some leading states´´ understand that this problem affects them as well.