The Security Council looks decidedly stupid and increasingly irrelevant Twelve of the fifteen members of the United Nations Security Council have apparently had a major rethink on the terms of Resolution 2334 which they approved 14-0 on 23 December 2016 with only America abstaining. They were among those who issued the Joint Declaration following the Paris Conference held on 15 January—attended by delegations from 70 countries, the United Nations, the European Commission, the European Union, the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.