United Nations Official Records and Resolutions

What are Official Records, Resolutions and Decisions?

Official Records constitute the primary documents submitted to or issued by the main UN bodies at a given session or year.  They usually consist of 3 parts:  meeting or plenary records; supplements which contain resolutions and decisions, and reports of major UN bodies, committees and commissions as well as the budget and financial reports; and annexes, reprints of related or other important documents. (Official Records may also be issued by other UN agencies or conferences.)

Records of meetings can be either verbatim records ("/PV"), a full, first-person account, or summary records ("/SR"), a third person condensed version.

Resolutions and Decisions are part of the Official Records, generally issued as the last supplement.  

• Resolutions are formal expressions of the opinion or will of UN bodies.  They consist of two clearly defined parts, a preamble and an operative part.  The preamble generally recites the considerations on the basis of which action is taken, an opinion expressed or a directive given. The operative part states the opinion of the organ or the action to be taken.  These opinions can often be useful when doing the equivalent of a legislative history.

• Decisions are formal actions, other than resolutions, dealing with non-substantive or routine matters such as elections, appointments, the time and place of meetings and the taking note of reports.  They are sometimes also used to record the adoption of a text representing the consensus of members of a given organ on a question. 

What are the Main UN Bodies?

The General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, and the Secretariat are usually considered the major bodies of  the UN.  However, the Secretariat is not a deliberative body--it carries out the diverse day-to-day work of the UN, services the other principal bodies, and administers the programs and policies decided by them--so it does not publish Official Records, Resolutions and Decisions. The International Court of Justice is also considered a main body and the Trusteeship Council is considered a major UN body but it suspended operation in November 1994 because all Trust Territories had attained self-government or independence.

Subsidiary Bodies

Generally, texts of resolutions and/or decisions of committees, commissions and other subsidiary bodies are included as supplements to the official records of the parent body.  For example, the International Law Commission, the Human Rights Committee and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women are subsidiary bodies of the General Assembly, and their reports, including decisions or resolutions adopted, are issued as Supplements to the Official Records of the General Assembly.

Indexes for Official Records and Resolutions

Press Releases

 UN Press Releases Full Text Search  Since official documents take time to print and publish, press releases are the best source for recent information. Press releases giving information about meetings frequently include the full text of the resolutions and statements agreed upon at the meeting. In addition, compilations of resolutions for the General Assembly (regular, special and emergency special sessions) and the Security Council are produced well in advance of the official record containing the same material.

Official Records

• United Nations Documents and Publications Index on CD-ROM, 1990- (Reference Workstation 12 across from Reference Desk)
• Web version of above: Access UN, 1966-
• UNDOC: Current Index, Gov Docs Index Reference, ST/LIB/Ser.M, 1979-1997
• UNDEX: United Nations Document Index, Gov Docs Index, ST/LIB/Ser.M, 1974-1978
• United Nations Documents Index, Gov Docs Index Reference, ST/LIB/Ser.M, 1950-1973

Resolutions

• UNBIS Plus on CD-ROM
• Index to Proceedings of the . . . , Gov. Docs. Index Reference, ST/LIB/Ser. B
   Proceedings of each of  the main UN bodies.  Comprehensive, including citations to every document relating to the body's consideration of a topic  as well as a voting chart.
• Annual Review of UN Affairs, Gov. Docs. Index Reference JX 1977 .A1 A5, 1949
• -United Nations Yearbook, DPI Y39u, latest on Quick Reference, 1946-
• United Nations Actions in the Field of Human Rights, Gov Docs Index Reference, ST/HR/2/rev.4

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General Assembly

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In addition to the Official Records of the General Assembly, the GA has six standing or Main Committees whose reports are issued each session.  The committees are numbered and their reports contain that designation, so the report of the First Committee is C.1. The Committees and their subject areas are: First Committee, disarmament and international security; Second Committee,. economic and financial matters; Third Committee, social, humanitarian and cultural matters; Fourth Committee, special political and decolonization matters; Fifth Committee, administrative and budgetary matters; Sixth Committee, legal matters.  

General Assembly resolutions and decisions are compiled into cumulations each session and are issued as the final supplement to the Official Records of the General Assembly.  The other supplements are reports of subordinate bodies, budget information, etc. 

General Assembly Indexing

General Assembly Resolutions, Full Text 1981-  (UN Gopher connection)

List of Conventions, Declarations and Other Instruments contained in General Assembly Resolutions (1946 onwards)

Access UN 1966-

UNBIS Plus CD-ROM
  General Assembly resolutions, 1981-
  Voting Information on Resolutions,1983-

Index to the Proceedings of the General Assembly, Gov Docs Index Reference, ST/LIB/Ser.B/A, 2nd Session 1947- 

Index to Resolutions of the General Assembly, 1946-1970, Gov Docs  Index Reference, ST/LIB/Ser.H/1

Nations on Record: United Nations General Assembly Roll Call Votes, 1946-1973, Gov Docs Index Reference, JX 1977.8 .V6 N38

Issues Before the ... General Assembly of the United Nations, Gov Docs Index Reference, JX 1977 .A1 U52244a, 1979-1992

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Security Council

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Security Council Indexing

UN Security Council Documents  Security Council Resolutions full-text search, 1994-1998; lists for 1998, 1997, 1996, 1995, 1994, or 1974-1993.

Access UN 1966-

UNBIS Plus CD-ROM
  Security Council resolutions, 1974-
  Voting information on resolutions, 1946-

Index to the Proceedings of the Security Council, Gov Docs Index Reference, ST./LIB/Ser.B/S, 19th Session 1964-

Index to Resolutions of the Security Council, 1946-1996, Gov Docs Index Reference, ST/LIB/SER.H/5/Rev.1

Resolutions and Statements of the United Nations Security Council 1946-1992: A Thematic Guide, Gov Docs Index Reference JX 1977 .A59 1993

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Economic and Social Council

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Economic and Social Council Indexing

Search Economic and Social Council Documents (UN Gopher connection)

Access UN 1966-

UNBIS Plus CD-ROM
  Economic and Social Council resolutions, 1982-

Index to the Proceedings of the Economic and Social Council, Gov Docs Index Reference, ST/LIB/Ser.B/E, 10th Session 1950-

Index to Resolutions of the Economic and Social Council, 1946-1970, Gov Docs Index Reference, ST/LIB/SER.H/4

Other Official Records

The Official Records of the Trusteeship Council are in the stacks at TCOR and Official Records of the Trade and Development Board are at TDBOR.  Of course, they are also in the microprint and microfiche sets.

Other Sources

United Nations Documentation: Research Guide, from the UN Dag Hammarskjold Library, is an excellent source of information about almost everything in the UN system, including documents and publications.

The Concise UN Finding Aid from Yale Library provides a good overview of finding General Assembly information.