Revised on 17 May 2020

At a time when the Security Council is adopting more than 200 outcome documents per year, the role of “lead country” or “penholder” has never been more important.  And yet the parameters of this practice are somewhat obscure, as are its origins . . .

Revised on 11 March 2019

The practice of “penholding” can be viewed as having had three phases . . .

26 December 2017

On 16 November 2017, the Council convened to take up two draft resolutions on renewing the mandate of the OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) for Syria, one prepared by the Russian Federation, and the other by the United States . . .

12 June 2017

Until December 2016, no case had arisen in the history of the Security Council involving the second paragraph of Rule 35 of the Council’s Provisional Rules of Procedure . . .

30 October 2016

“Presidential text” is the name given to a draft resolution for which all 15 Council members have agreed to be co-sponsors . . .

1 November 2014

It has long been the Council’s practice that no new co-sponsors can be added after a resolution has been put to a vote.  This practice, however, is not set out in writing, and therefore is subject to modification at the Council’s discretion . . .