The Security Council regularly establishes Committees, which consist of representatives from each of the countries on the Council and generally meet at headquarters, to assist it in its work. Standing Committees are open-ended and generally were established to address certain procedural questions, such as the admission of new members. Ad hoc committees are established for a limited time and to address a specific issue.

The Security Council has established a wide-variety of Commissions to handle a variety of tasks related to the maintenance of international peace and security. Commissions have been created with different structures and a wide variety of mandates including investigation, mediation, or administering compensation. Below is a list of all commissions established by the Security Council, with a short description prepared on the basis of the Repertoire, as well as links to the sections covering them in the Repertoire.

The Repertoire covers Articles from Chapter XVI on Miscellaneous Provisions and, in the 1st Supplement, has covered Articles from Chapter XVII on Transitional Security Arrangements. Under consideration of miscellaneous provisions of the Charter, material relating to Articles 102 and 103 is included, by providing implicit references and explicit references to these Articles in official documents of the Security Council.

Available in all six official languages of the United Nations, the Repertoire of the Practice of the Security Council enables Member States, including those elected to serve on the Security Council, to follow the evolving practice of the Council and to better understand the procedural and constitutional framework within which the Security Council operates.

Article 41 of the United Nations Charter gives the Security Council the authority to use a variety of measures to enforce its decisions. The Council regularly creates subsidiary organs to support or implement these measures. Among the most common are those measures that are known as "sanctions", which are generally supported by a Committee, as well as Panels/Groups of Experts or other mechanisms to monitor implementation of the sanctions.

Under Article 29 of the Charter of the United Nations, the Security Council “may establish such subsidiary organs as it deems necessary for the performance of its functions”. Over the years the Security Council has created a wide variety of organs to address issues relating both to the maintenance of international peace and security, as well as to its own working methods and procedures.