Part I (formerly Chapter VIII) of the Repertoire provides an overview of the role of the Council in its primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security on each of the agenda items that it is seized of. It is a record of the origins of the Council’s involvement in a particular situation and how it interpreted and applied the Charter and its Provisional Rules of Procedure in connection with this situation.

This part includes summaries of public discussions in the Council, reports and other documents considered during Council meetings, as well as the full text (1946-1999) or summaries (2000-present) of all resolutions, presidential statements or other decisions taken by the Council in meetings on a particular agenda item.

While these studies examine all decisions of the Council and the immediate constitutional and procedural background to those decisions, discussions that relate to specific Charter articles or to the Council’s provisional rules of procedure will generally have been included in case studies in other chapters, for instance on pacific settlement of disputes, Chapter VII of the Charter, and regional arrangements. As a result, more details on specific agenda items are available in other chapters and, from 2000 onwards, cross-references are provided.

For ease of reference, agenda items – the topics under consideration by the Council – have been organized either by region (Africa, Asia, Americas, Europe and Middle East), or by general/thematic items (such as “Children in armed conflict”). For a short description of each agenda item based on the content of the Repertoire, please see the studies by region and topic pages.