The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) was established in 1945 via the establishment of the UN Charter at the end of World War II. As one of the UN’s six principal organs, the Security Council is unique among the committees offered at NHSMUN in its membership, scope, and power. The UNSC has a unique, preventive, and reactionary role in the UN—it is meant to respond to international crises and maintain international peace. In response to such crises, the Council can mandate decisive actions such as peace talks, mediations, negotiations, and meetings. Additionally, according to Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, the Council can approve the use of force if there is no other way to maintain international peace. The Security Council can also deploy UN peacekeeping operations and impose sanctions on states. Only the Security Council has this power.

Armenia and Azerbaijan are located east of Türkiye and north of Iran. Although both countries have a similar history, they are locked in a decades-long conflict. Both states found themselves originally under the colonial rule of Russia and the Ottoman Empire and gained independence in 1991. The Nagorno-Karabakh border conflict is a dispute that occurred between Armenia and Azerbaijan over control of an enclave of what was ethnically Armenian within Azerbaijan’s territory in 1994. The conflict eased over the next 30 years, but fighting reignited in 2020. An estimated 3,000 Azerbaijani militants, 4,000 Armenian militants, and 170 civilian deaths were reported. Russian forces were deployed, but skirmishes continued. Armenia had slowly lost the land it had once occupied. In 2023 an Azerbaijani offensive reclaimed the land. The majority of Armenians within the Nagorno-Karabakh region fled to Armenia, and the enclave was dissolved in January 2024. This conflict has now displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians from their homes. Though a peace treaty now exists, and Russian peacekeepers have withdrawn, the region remains in political turmoil, and accusations of crimes committed during the occupation of the territory endure. Delegates of the United Nations Security Council must respond to the unrest in the region and establish protocols for peace.

In 2001, the United States launched a “War on Terror” in response to a series of terrorist attacks on September 11th of the same year. During this fight, the United States established a widespread military occupation of Afghanistan called “Operation Enduring Freedom.” Even so, extremist groups continued to dominate certain parts of the region, spreading their ideologies through terrorism and recruitment. In 2021, by order of US President Joseph Biden, US troops withdrew from Afghanistan entirely. Since the United States’ departure, the Taliban have become Afghanistan’s self-proclaimed government. The Taliban’s claim is not widely supported or recognized, with many regions of Afghanistan and other foreign powers refusing to acknowledge the Taliban as the Afghan government. Regardless of this, however, instability in the Afghan government has caused severe consequences for its citizens. Under Taliban rule, political corruption, regional drug trade, and ethnic tensions have continued to grow at worrisome rates. Apart from Afghanistan’s internal conflict, the country continues its decades-long conflict with Pakistan, centered around border disagreements. These military operations continue to be ongoing and with no end in sight. This continued conflict does not only pose weakness to the Afghan government, but directly impacts civilians who live in instability and are often the casualties of the military strikes. Together, the United Nations Security Council must integrate strong solutions to address both the internal and international issues facing Afghanistan today.