The United Nations Security Council
Your Challenge:
Using the video above and your own research find out why the United Nations Security Council was formed, who the members of the council are, what the veto power is and what the aims of the Security Council are.
Follow this Process:
Discuss - Is it necessary for the United Nations to have a Security Council why or why not?
Watch the video - By doing your own research and watching the video write or create bullet points explaining when and why the Security Council was formed. Include dates if you can. From the video list the five permanent members and ways the UN tries to maintain peace and security.
Brainstorm - What are the differences between permanent and non-permanent members and their powers in the council? Write this out on a big piece of paper. List the permanent members and examples of non-permanent members.
Research - Using websites, research what the ‘veto power’ is. Which members of the Security Council have this power and why do they have this power?
Discuss - After you have found this out, discuss with a partner if you think it is fair that permanent members only have the veto power and if it is fair that only one permanent member can use the veto to stop resolutions being passed.
Summarise - After discussing this, summarise your points and share them with the rest of the class, writing points on the whiteboard.
Take action - Smaller states such as New Zealand do not have any veto power in the Security Council. As a class contribute reasons for why smaller states such as New Zealand should have more power in the Security Council and what our strengths would be if we have another seat on the council. Our seat ended in 2016.
Capture and Share - Create an article for your schools newsletter as a promotion for NZ to gain another seat on the Security Council and including reasons why we should have another seat and the type of representation we could give for smaller states. Or, in pairs create a powerpoint covering these same points on the benefits of New Zealand gaining another seat on the Council.
Or, create a video recording of each student saying why New Zealand should have another seat on the Council and you can’t mention Pineapple Lumps!
Educator Notes
To simplify this webquest:
Go through the same steps including brainstorming, researching, etc but focus more on what the Security Council is and its aims rather than going into detail about permanent, non permanent members and the veto power.
Ask the students to pair up. Get one student to look up what the security council is and the other what its functions and powers are using this website (below), if there is a group of three, get the third student to look at the foundation and procedures. After they have read the information get them to write or type in their own words what they have found out and explain back what they’ve found out to the other or other two people, taking turns.
http://www.un.org/en/sc/about/
To make it more complex:
Go through the same process, but when the students are researching the veto power ask them to research and write down examples of conflicts the UN Peacekeepers have been involved with including the dates and geographic locations.
After this, ask the students to discuss why it is necessary for the Peacekeepers to be sent to these regions and what they aim to do when they are sent to resolve conflicts and when conflicts are over.
Useful links
Useful website links:
General links on the UN Security Council:
Website on UN Peacekeepers: http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/operations/