This cloze test question requires the word that correctly fills gap 13. The passage discusses the United Nations Security Council and its procedures for handling disputes.
The correct word is parties. In international law and UN practice, the countries or groups involved in a dispute are referred to as the parties to the dispute. This is the standard legal term used in the UN Charter (particularly Articles 33-38 on the pacific settlement of disputes) to describe the entities directly involved in a conflict or disagreement.
The other options do not fit the legal context:
"People" is too vague and general. Disputes at the Security Council level are between states or organised groups, not individuals.
"States" could be partially correct in that states are often parties, but the Charter uses "parties" as the specific legal term because non-state actors can also be parties to a dispute.
"Entity" (singular) is grammatically incorrect in a context that requires a plural noun to refer to multiple sides of a dispute.
