Editing United Nations Security Council (section)

=== Consultation room ===
Due to the public scrutiny of the Security Council Chamber,<ref name="hovell2016">{{cite book|last1=Hovell|first1=Devika|title=The Power of Process: The Value of Due Process in Security Council Sanctions Decision-making|date=2016|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-871767-6|page=145}}</ref> much of the work of the Security Council is conducted behind closed doors in "informal consultations".<ref name="dewet2003">{{cite book|editor-last1=De Wet|editor-first1=Erika|editor-last2=Nollkaemper|editor-first2=André|editor-last3=Dijkstra|editor-first3=Petra|title=Review of the Security Council by member states|date=2003|publisher=Intersentia|location=Antwerp|isbn=978-90-5095-307-8|pages=31–32}}</ref><ref name="bosco2009">{{cite book|last1=Bosco|first1=David L.|title=Five to Rule Them All: the UN Security Council and the Making of the Modern World|date=2009|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-532876-9|pages=[https://archive.org/details/fivetorulethemal00bosc/page/138 138–139]|url=https://archive.org/details/fivetorulethemal00bosc/page/138}}</ref>

In 1978, West Germany funded the construction of a conference room next to the Security Council Chamber. The room was used for "informal consultations", which soon became the primary meeting format for the Security Council. In 1994, the French ambassador complained to the Secretary-General that "informal consultations have become the Council's characteristic working method, whilst public meetings, originally the norm, are increasingly rare and increasingly devoid of content: everyone knows that when the Council goes into public meeting everything has been decided in advance".<ref name="elgebeily2017">{{cite book|last1=Elgebeily|first1=Sherif|title=The Rule of Law in the United Nations Security Council Decision-Making Process: Turning the Focus Inwards|date=2017|isbn=978-1-315-41344-0|pages=54–55|publisher=Taylor & Francis }}</ref> When Russia funded the renovation of the consultation room in 2013, the Russian ambassador called it "quite simply, the most fascinating place in the entire diplomatic universe".<ref name="sievers2014">{{cite book|last1=Sievers|first1=Loraine|last2=Daws|first2=Sam|title=The Procedure of the UN Security Council|date=2014|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-150843-1|edition=4}}</ref>

Only members of the Security Council are permitted in the conference room for consultations. The press is not admitted, and other members of the United Nations cannot be invited into the consultations.<ref name="unsc_glossary">{{cite web|title=Security Council Handbook Glossary|url=https://www.un.org/en/sc/about/methods/glossary.shtml|website=United Nations Security Council|quote="Consultations of the whole" are consultations held in private with all 15 Council members present. Such consultations are held in the Consultations Room, are announced in the UN Journal, have an agreed agenda and interpretation, and may involve one or more briefers. The consultations are closed to non-Council Member States. "Informal consultations" mostly refer to "consultations of the whole", but in different contexts may also refer to consultations among the 15 Council members or only some of them held without a Journal announcement and interpretation.|access-date=29 June 2017|archive-date=12 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170612005148/http://www.un.org/en/sc/about/methods/glossary.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref> No formal record is kept of the informal consultations.<ref name="unsc_meetings">{{cite web|title=United Nations Security Council Meeting records|url=https://www.un.org/en/sc/meetings/|access-date=10 February 2017|quote=The preparatory work for formal meetings is conducted in informal consultations for which no public record exists.|archive-date=31 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170131194210/http://www.un.org/en/sc/meetings/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="unsc_faq">{{cite web|title=Frequently Asked Questions|url=https://www.un.org/en/sc/about/faq.shtml|website=United Nations Security Council|quote=Both open and closed meetings are formal meetings of the Security Council. Closed meetings are not open to the public and no verbatim record of statements is kept, instead the Security Council issues a Communiqué in line with Rule 55 of its Provisional Rules of Procedure. Consultations are informal meetings of the Security Council members and are not covered in the Repertoire.|access-date=29 June 2017|archive-date=5 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180905205244/http://www.un.org/en/sc/about/faq.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref> As a result, the delegations can negotiate with each other in secret, striking deals and compromises without having their every word transcribed into the permanent record. The privacy of the conference room also makes it possible for the delegates to deal with each other in a friendly manner. In one early consultation, a new delegate from a Communist nation began a propaganda attack on the United States, only to be told by the Soviet delegate, "We don't talk that way in here."<ref name="bosco2009"/>

A permanent member can cast a "pocket veto" during the informal consultation by declaring its opposition to a measure. Since a veto would prevent the resolution from being passed, the sponsor will usually refrain from putting the resolution to a vote. Resolutions are vetoed only if the sponsor feels so strongly about a measure that it wishes to force the permanent member to cast a formal veto.<ref name="dewet2003"/><ref name="scr2015">{{cite journal|title=The Veto|journal=Security Council Report|date=19 October 2015|volume=2015|issue=3|url=http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/research_report_3_the_veto_2015.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305003908/http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/research_report_3_the_veto_2015.pdf|archive-date=5 March 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> By the time a resolution reaches the Security Council Chamber, it has already been discussed, debated and amended in the consultations. The open meeting of the Security Council is merely a public ratification of a decision that has already been reached in private.<ref name="reid1999">{{cite web|last1=Reid|first1=Natalie|title=Informal Consultations|url=https://www.globalpolicy.org/security-council/32941-informal-consultations-natalie-reid-january-1999.html|website=Global Policy Forum|date=January 1999|access-date=13 April 2016|archive-date=28 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160428084917/https://www.globalpolicy.org/security-council/32941-informal-consultations-natalie-reid-january-1999.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="dewet2003"/> For example, [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 1373|Resolution 1373]] was adopted without public debate in a meeting that lasted just five minutes.<ref name="dewet2003"/><ref>{{cite web|title=Meeting record, Security Council, 4385th meeting|url=https://undocs.org/S/PV.4385|id=S/PV.4385|website=United Nations Repository|publisher=United Nations|date=28 September 2001|access-date=9 October 2017|archive-date=10 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010145738/https://undocs.org/S/PV.4385|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Security Council holds far more consultations than public meetings. In 2012, the Security Council held 160 consultations, 16 private meetings and 9 public meetings. In times of crisis, the Security Council still meets primarily in consultations, but it also holds more public meetings. After the outbreak of the [[Russo-Ukrainian War]] in 2014, the Security Council returned to the patterns of the Cold War, as Russia and the Western countries engaged in verbal duels in front of the television cameras. In 2016, the Security Council held 150 consultations, 19 private meetings and 68 public meetings.<ref name="unite2016">{{cite web|title=Highlights of Security Council Practice 2016|url=https://unite.un.org/sites/unite.un.org/files/app-schighlights/index.html|website=Unite|publisher=United Nations|access-date=10 February 2017|archive-date=11 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211080514/https://unite.un.org/sites/unite.un.org/files/app-schighlights/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref>