Difference Between UN Security Council and UN General Assembly

United Nations (UN) is an international organisation which was established after the second World War in 1945. Before this platform, League of Nations was working but it was small in scale and their agenda was limited.

After realising the importance of dialogue for peace, the UN was created to encourage all the member states to resolve their issues on this international platform. UN has many subsidiary organisations to cover every aspect. Some of them are United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), World Food Programme (WFP) and World Health Organisation (WHO).

The UN has six major organs that ensure to improve the functionality of this international organisation. These include General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council, Secretariat, International Court of Justice, UN Trusteeship Council.

There is no doubt in that the Security Council and General Assembly are the most important parts of the United Nations. Their aim is to minimise the danger or risk of wars and resolve all issues between member states.

What is the purpose of creating two different platforms if their purpose is the same? To make it easier to understand, some differences will be mentioned and these slight variations make each one unique.

UN Security Council has 20 members from which five are permanent and 15 members are non permanent. On the other hand, General Assembly has 192 members as every country is part of this association.

In General Assembly, every country has just a single vote and every member has equal rights or responsibilities whereas the Security Council consists of five main superpowers of the world. These countries can veto any of the resolutions.

If the Security Council passes a resolution then it becomes compulsory for every member to act upon whereas the case is entirely different in the General Assembly. Moreover, Security Council deals in all matters of international peace and security while the General Assembly is the platform to discuss all other matters.

Instructions

  • 1

    UN Security Council:

    Arguably, it is the most important organ of the United Nations as it can take military action against any member. This council has five permanent members that are US, UK, China, Russia and France. Meanwhile, there are 15 non permanent members that have a term of two years.

    - Image Courtesy: globalmemo.org

  • 2

    UN General Assembly:

    General Assembly is the largest part of the UN as it comprises of all the countries in the world. At the moment, there are 192 members who make resolutions regarding different issues. A resolution must have two third votes of confidence in the house.

    - Image Courtesy: ilawyerblog.com

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


9 + = eleven