Committees

New inquiry: Using our Penholder position to reduce global conflict: The UK at the United Nations Security Council

11 March 2025

Inquiry launch: UK at the United Nations Security Council

The Foreign Affairs Committee today launches the inquiry “Using our Penholder position to reduce global conflict: The UK at the United Nations Security Council”.

The UK is one of the five Permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, alongside China, France, Russia and the United States. The United Nations Charter confers on the Security Council primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security.

The inquiry will consider how effectively the UK uses its position on the Security Council to influence and bring about an end to global conflict, whilst advancing its goals for a rules-based international order.

In particular, the inquiry will focus on territories or regions for which the UK is a “Penholder” – that is, the country with responsibility for drafting resolutions. The UK is Penholder for, amongst others, Libya, Sudan and Yemen. This inquiry asks whether “Penholder” status has a tangible, positive impact on reducing or resolving conflict or instability in state in question.

This inquiry will also assess the relationship between the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the UK’s representation at the Security Council.

The deadline for submitting written evidence is Friday 18 April 2025.

Chair comment

Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Dame Emily Thornberry MP, said:

“The United Nations Security Council is charged with maintaining global peace and security and finding resolution to conflicts. As a Permanent member of the Security Council, the UK is well-positioned to make a positive impact on conflict worldwide. This inquiry will ask whether we are making the best use of our membership.

“The UK serves as a ‘Penholder’ for a number of countries, including Myanmar, Sudan and Yemen, and leads on drafting resolutions in relation to these states. We will ask how whether the UK is making effective use of its status as a Penholder, spotlighting various territories and the potential role for the UK at the Security Council in conflict resolution in each, throughout the inquiry.

“Recent geopolitical instability has thrown into sharp relief the importance of supporting conflict resolution by all means necessary. This inquiry will ask how the UK can best engage with the Security Council and find resolutions to conflicts, within an increasingly challenging context.” 

The Committee welcomes written evidence on: 

  • How effectively has the UK used its position as a Penholder at the UN to push for an end to conflict? In which cases has the UK not used this position sufficiently enough?  
  • Which countries, territories or regions currently, should the UK, through the UN, be pushing for an end to conflict? Why?  
  • To what extent do the UK’s priorities at the UN align with existing FCDO priorities?  
  • What is the relationship between the FCDO and the UK’s role at the UN, with reference to conflict resolution and stabilisation around the world?  
  • To what extent do cuts in the UK’s Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) budget impact upon the UK’s contributions to the UN? How might this affect the extent to which the UK, as penholder for countries such as Sudan and Yemen, is able to use this position to bring about positive change? 
  • How fair is the system of allocating Penholder-ship at the UN? Does the UK have tangible leverage and influence to bring about positive outcomes in countries for which it is a Penholder? 
  • Is the idea of a Penholder at the UNSC symbolic and performative? In what cases has this mechanism resulted in change for the territory in question?  
  • How possible is it to advance the agenda of conflict resolution at the UN Security Council, which is increasingly polarised? 
  • Other than the UN, what other international or multilateral avenues does the UK have to bring about an end to global conflict?

Each submission should be no longer than 3,000 words and contain a brief introduction about the author. Submissions should be in malleable format such as MS Word (not PDFs) with no use of colour, logos or photos. Further guidance is available on our Written Evidence Guidance.   

Further information

Image: AdobeStock/Joaquin Corbalan