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International Organizations: UN Documents

UN Documents, Official Records, Resolutions, etc

The UCSB Library's UN Documents microform collection has UN documents back to 1945. If an item is not full-text in one of the above, jot down it's UN Documents number and find it in the UN microfiche collection.
 

Meeting Records
Verbatim (PV) or summary (SR) records of meetings are indexed by (and often full-text online in) the above sources. They are also in the United Nations Documents microform collection, filed by document number. Document numbers for meeting records are made up of the following elements:
General Assembly: A/session/PV.meeting# [ex.: A/46/PV.79 is the 79th meeting of the 46th session]
1st Committee: A/C.1/session/PV.meeting# 5th Committee: A/C.5/session/SR.meeting#
2nd Committee: A/C.2/session/SR.meeting# 6th Committee: A/C.6/session/SR.meeting#
3rd Committee: A/C.3/session/SR.meeting#  General Committee: BUR/session/SR.meeting#
4th Committee: A/C.4/session/SR.meeting# Special Political Committee: /SPC/session/SR.meeting#
Security Council: S/PV.meeting#  Economic & Social Council: E/year/SR.meeting#

 

Resolutions
Resolutions by topic may be identified using the Documents systems above.

Resolutions are also in the United Nations Documents microform collection, filed by document number:

  • General Assembly: A/RES/session/number (A/RES/47/18 is res. 18 of the General Assembly's 46th session.)
  • Economic & Social Council: resolutions are published in its Information Series. Use their Index to Proceedings to find the document number (e.g., E/1991/INF/5).
  • Security Council: S/RES/# (e.g., S/RES/714)

Voting Records

An unofficial record of the vote on a resolution or decision is included in the press release that comes out after each meeting. The official vote is included in the meeting record of the meeting in which it was passed (see meeting records above). Many votes are not recorded, while for others only summary information is given (i.e., vote totals, but not by country).

Tip

When looking for United Nations documents and other information from the UN, try the online resources listed here first.