Abstract: The paper first demonstrates that the members of the United Nations Security Council are under a legal duty, both under the Charter and under general principles of international law, to carry their Charter obligations in good faith. The paper then proceeds to identify a selected set of situations in which the Council might violate this legal obligation, namely when determining a "threat to the peace", when selecting measures to respond to such a threat and when deciding when the threat has ended. The paper then proceeds to review apparent violations by Council members of their duty of good faith and demonstrates that due to the inherent nature and composition of the Council, its good faith cannot be presumed. Due to this fact and to the lack of effective political and legal restraint, the situation may arise whereby the Council itself or its decisions would represent a threat to international peace and security. In order to prevent this from occurring a number of responses are suggested.
Read more . . .