What is the United Nations Security Council responsible for?

The United Nations Security Council is the primary organ of the United Nations charged with the maintenance of international peace and security.12

Its responsibilities and powers include:

• Conflict Resolution: The council investigates disputes or situations that may threaten international peace and security. It first explores peaceful resolutions through methods such as negotiation, mediation, arbitration, and judicial decisions.31
• Peacekeeping: The council may authorize United Nations Peacekeeping Forces to keep warring parties apart while further negotiations take place.12
• Coercive Measures: If peaceful efforts fail, the council is empowered to determine the existence of a threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression. It may then call upon UN members to apply diplomatic or economic sanctions.123
• Military Action: If sanctions prove inadequate, the UN Charter authorizes the Security Council to take military action against an offending nation to restore international peace and security.13

Unlike the General Assembly, which primarily makes recommendations, the Security Council has the authority to make decisions that are binding on all UN members.3