Security Council Fact-Finding: A Prerequisite to Effective Prevention of War

This article examines a number of incidents in which the Security Council has been asked to act on a breach of the peace allegation. In some, the Council took no action because it decided, without investigating, that the allegations were baseless. In others, as in the 1992 situation involving Libya, it took action based on facts presented by the complainant. In still others, the Council ordered an investigation before deciding whether to act.

The incidents examined involve events in Greece, Albania, Palestine, Korea, Egypt, Lebanon, Vietnam, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Nicaragua, Libya, Panama, and Iraq. In many of these cases, the article argues, the Security Council either took or refrained from action without having gained information about the true state of affairs. The Security Council has no established mechanism for fact-finding. The article argues that the Security Council’s fact-finding capability is inadequate, and that more active fact-finding is needed so that the Council can make rational decisions about breach of the peace complaints.