1. Susan Goard, Speaker Dag Hammarskjold Library, United Nations
W3: Two Sides to the United Nations: Working with Public and Private International Law at the UN
Susan Goard, Speaker
Dag Hammarskjold Library, United Nations

2. Outline Overview of the UN System Sources for UN information
UN documents, a primer
Sources for UN documents
Library Resources

3. About the UN

4. Principal Bodies General Assembly Security Council
Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
Secretariat
Trusteeship Council
International Court of Justice

5. Structure of the UN
Taken from the UN website (

6. General Assembly Composed of all member states (193)
Discusses any questions or matters within the scope of the Charter
Elects ECOSOC members, non-permanent Security Council members, ICJ Judges (with Security Council)
Appoints the Secretary-General (on the recommendation of the Security Council)
Considers and approves the budget of UN and UN member dues

7. General Assembly
Meets year round in New York though the bulk of activity takes place in September – December.
Meetings are divided into plenary and 6 main committees:
1st committee: Disarmament and International Security
2nd committee: Economic and Financial
3rd committee: Social, Humanitarian and Cultural
4th committee: Special Political and Decolonization
5th committee: Administrative and Budget
6th committee: Legal

8. General Assembly
Along with the Main Committees, there are procedural and standing committees:
Procedural Committees:
General Committee
Credentials Committee
Standing Committees:
Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ)
Committee on Contributions

9. General Assembly Subsidiary Organs: Disarmament Commission
Human Rights Council
Universal Periodic Review
Human Rights Council Advisory Committee
Complaints Procedure
Special Procedures, Special Rapporteurs, Independent Experts, Human Rights Working Groups (Human Rights Experts)
Commissions of Inquiry
Syria, Gaza, DPKR, Eritrea, Sri Lanka
International Law Commission

10. General Assembly: Human Rights Bodies
Charter-based Bodies
Human Rights Council
Universal Periodic Review
Commission on Human Rights (replaced by the Human Rights Council)
Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council
Human Rights Council Complaint Procedure
Reports to the General Assembly
Supported by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
Based in Geneva

11. General Assembly: Human Rights Bodies
Treaty Based Bodies
Human Rights Committee (CCPR)
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR)
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD)
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)
Committee against Torture (CAT) 
Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT)
Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
Committee on Migrant Workers (CMW)
Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)
Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED)
Monitor the implementation of the Core International Human Rights Instruments
Reports to the General Assembly
Supported by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
Based in Geneva

12. General Assembly: UNCITRAL
Core legal body of the UN system for international trade law
Composed of 60 member states elected by the General Assembly
Based in Vienna

13. General Assembly: International Law Commission
Initiates studies and makes recommendations for the progressive codification of international law
Composed of 34 experts elected by the General Assembly, based on recommendations of the member states
Meets annually in Geneva
Reports to the General Assembly

14. General Assembly Ad hoc, advisory bodies, expert bodies
Examples of Ad hoc committees:
Counterterrorism Implementation Task Force (CTITF)
Committee on Conferences
Committee on Information
Committee on the relations with the Host Country
Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People
And over 18 more…
Examples of Advisory bodies:
Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters
Advisory Committee on the UN Programme of Assistance for the Teaching, Study, Dissemination and Wider Appreciation of International Law

15. General Assembly

16. Security Council Concerned with Peace and Security
Sits year round in New York
Has 5 permanent members (P5), 10 non-permanent members who sit for two year terms
Document symbols start with S/

17. Security Council Subsidiary Bodies: Counter-terrorism committees
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR)
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)
Military Staff Committee
Peacekeeping Operations and Political Missions
Sanctions Committee (ad hoc)
Standing Committees and ad hoc bodies

18. ECOSOC Concerned with:
economic, cultural, social, educational, and health matters;
human rights and freedoms
Makes or initiates studies and reports
Makes recommendations to the General Assembly
Drafts Conventions
Convenes international conferences

19. ECOSOC 54 members from member states
18 new members elected every year for a 3 year term
Geographically distributed
Alternate meeting between New York and Geneva
Organizational session in the spring
Substantive sessions throughout the year, mostly in July

20. Secretariat Administrative arm of the United Nations
Based all over the world (New York is considered the Headquarters)
Departments and Offices report to the Secretary-General
Secretariat Documentation starts with ST/

21. Secretariat New York Geneva Others
Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA)
Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO)
Department of Political Affairs (DPA)
Department of Public Information (DPI)
Dag Hammarskjold Library
UN Information Centres
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
Office of Legal Affairs (OLA)
Geneva
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA)
United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG)
Others
United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON)
United Nations Office at Vienna (UNOV)

22. Trusteeship Council
Suspended Operation on 1 November 1994, as on 1 October 1994, Palau, the last United Nations Trust Territory, became independent
Council chamber is in New York
Documentation starts with T/

23. International Court of Justice
Principal Judicial Organ of the United Nations
Arbitrates on cases between States
Gives advisory opinions on International Law to the General Assembly and the Security Council
Documentation follows an entirely different pattern than the rest of the United Nations;
Sits in The Hague, Netherlands

24. UN Documents, a primer

25. Documents vs. Publications
"A document is a text submitted for examination to a principal or subsidiary organ of the United Nations, it usually focuses on one or more issues on the agenda of the organ concerned.” (ST/AI/189/Add.3/Rev.2)

26. Documents vs. Publications
“The term United Nations publication refers to any written material which is issued by or for the United Nations to the general public, normally under the authorization of the Publications Board.” (ST/AI/189/Add.3/Rev.2)

27. What is a document symbol
Combination of numbers and letters
Unique identifier for a UN document
1 symbol for all languages
Indicates the organ to which the document is submitted
More information

28. First component
Indicates the principal organ the document is being submitted to or the organ that is issuing the document.
A/- General Assembly
S/- Security Council
E/- Economic and Social Council
ST/- Secretariat
Some bodies have a special series symbol that does not reflect the parent organ
CRC/C/- : Committee on the Rights of the Child
DP/- : United Nations Development Programme
TD/- : United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
UNEP/- : United Nations Environment Programme

29. Second component Second component
Secondary and tertiary components indicate subsidiary bodies:
-/AC. .../- Ad hoc committee
-/C. .../- Standing, permanent, or main committee
-/CN. .../- Commission
-/CONF. .../- Conference
-/Sub. .../- Subcommission
-/WG. .../- Working group
Etc.
Examples
A/C.1/- General Assembly/First Committee
E/CN.9- ECOSOC/Commission on Population and Development

30. Special component
Special components reflect the nature of the document:
-/L. ... Limited distribution (generally draft documents)
-/PRST/- Statements by the President (Security Council, Human Rights Council)
-/PV Verbatim records of meetings
-/RES/- Resolutions
-/SR Summary records of meetings
etc.
Examples:
A/C.1/60/PV.1-
A/ - General Assembly
/C.1/ - First Committee
/60/ - 60th session
/PV. - Summary Record
.1 - First meeting

31. Final components
The final component, appearing as a suffix to a symbol, reflects modifications to the original text:
-/Add.
Addendum
-/Amend.
Alteration, by decision of a competent authority, of a portion of an adopted formal text
-/Corr.
Corrigendum (may not apply to all language versions)
-/Rev.
Revision (replacing texts previously issued)

32. Examples A/RES/68/243 E/CONF.71/2 ST/SGB/2011/1 S/2014/4
A/C.3/62/L.15/Rev.1

33. Main Types of UN documents
Resolutions and Decisions
Meeting records
Letters
Reports
Presidential Statements
Detailed description of the different document types available in the UN Documentation Research Guide

34. Resolutions
Formal expressions of the opinion or will of United Nations organs
Individual documents
General Assembly
A/RES/session/...
Security Council
S/RES/...(year)
Economic and Social Council (2012-)
E/RES/year/...
Human Rights Council
A/HRC/RES/session/...

35. Decisions
Used to designate formal actions, other than resolutions, dealing with non-substantive or routine matters such as:
Elections
Appointments
Time and place of meetings
Taking note of reports
Normally not issued as separate documents

36. Resolutions and Decisions: Compilations
The compilation volumes of resolutions and decisions of the principal organs (GA, SC, ECOSOC)
Text of resolutions and related information (sponsors, votes)
Text of decisions
Resolutions adopted by subsidiary bodies are usually published in the sessional report of the body
More information

37. Meeting Records Meeting records contain:
Statements and speeches
Actions taken
There are two types of meeting records:
Verbatim records (“procès verbaux”)
Contains full, first-person account of the proceedings of a meeting:
…/PV.-
S/PV.5862
A/64/PV.101
Summary records
Contains a third-person condensed version of the proceedings of a meeting:
…/SR.-
A/C.5/62/SR.25
E/2010/SR.22

38. Sessional Reports
Subsidiary bodies submit reports to their parent organ;
These reports are usually Supplements to the Official Records of the parent organ;
The reports contain:
Resolutions and decisions adopted by the subsidiary body;
Summary of the discussions held;
May include draft resolutions that the subsidiary body recommends the parent organ to adopt.

39. Reports of the Secretary-General
The Secretary-General submits reports to the principal organs on topics mandated by resolutions
There are many reports of the Secretary-General on many topics:
Peacekeeping operations;
Political situations;
Technical subjects;
Legal topics, etc.
No distinguishing symbol element for reports of the Secretary-General.

40. Letters Letters may come from: Letters may be addressed to:
Member States;
Secretary-General;
Presiding officers of UN organs and subsidiaries.
Letters may be addressed to:
Letters may transmit reports, statements or outcome documents
of a subsidiary body;
of a regional group meeting;
of another international organization.

41. Section 3: Sources for UN documents

42. News and media monitoring / Social media
Meetings Coverage and Press Releases
UN News Centre
Allows for alerts
Twitter
UN Main Twitter account
DHL account

43. Sales publications and Finding aids
Yearbooks
Repertory of Practice of United Nations Organs / Repertoire of Practice of the Security Council
Index to Proceedings
UN Legal Publications

44. Yearbooks UN Yearbook http://unyearbook.un.org/
United Nations activities during the year;
Reproductions and citations of key documents;
Principal reference work of the United Nations.
Produced by the Department of Public Information, Outreach Division

45. Yearbooks United Nations Juridical Yearbook
United Nations juridical activities during the year;
Includes chapters on:
Legal Status of the UN (Treaties and Legislative texts)
Legal Activities of the UN (Treaties, Legal Opinions, Administrative Tribunal Decisions)
Judicial Decisions on questions relating to the UN (National and International Tribunals)
Produced by the Office of Legal Affairs, Codification Division

46. Yearbooks Yearbook of the International Law Commission
Produced by the Office of Legal Affairs, Codification Divsion
UNCITRAL Yearbooks
Produced by UNCITRAL

47. Repertory of Practice of the United Nations Organs
Analytic study of the decisions of the United Nations principal organs
Organized by articles under the UN charter
Each entry covers approximately 5-10 years
Produced by the Office of Legal Affairs, Codification Division

48. Repertoire of Practice of the Security Council
Analytic study of the decisions of the Security Council
Organized by
Agenda Item (Regional or Thematic)
Procedural Issues
Constitutional Issues (Chapters of the Charter)
Subsidiary Organs
Produced by the Department of Political Affairs, Security Council Affairs Division

49. Index to Proceedings Annual Publications
Separate volumes for the General Assembly, Security Council, ECOSOC
comprised of a subject and an index to speeches
2009- available online:  
Produced by the Department of Public Affairs, Dag Hammarskjold Library

50. International Law Commission website
Contains the Analytic Guide to the work of the ILC
Final Outcome documents
Summary Records
Reports of the ILC to the General Assembly
Produced by the Office of Legal Affairs, Codification Division

51. Audiovisual Library of International Law
Includes:
Negotiating history of international instruments
Lecture series
Research Library
Produced by the Office of Legal Affairs, Codification Division

52. UN Legal publications Produced by OLA:
Proceedings of Diplomatic Conferences
Reports of International Arbitral Awards
Summaries of Judgments, Advisory Opinions and Orders of the International Court of Justice
United Nations Legislative Series
United Nations Juridical Yearbook
Repertory of Practice of United Nations Organs
Yearbook of the International Law Commission

53. UN Documents databases
ODS
UNBISnet
Access UN

54. Finding UN Documents by Symbol
Add the symbol after
Double check in the Official Document System:

55. Official Document System (ODS)
1993 onwards
All UN Documents
1946 onwards
Resolutions;
Security Council plenary documents;
Meeting records of plenary meetings of the General Assembly;
Supplements to the General Assembly Official Records.
Older documents are being scanned and made available on an ad-hoc basis
Joint ownership, but mostly produced by the Office of Information and Communication Technology

56. Researching Official Documents: ODS Interfaces
documents.un.org
Search by symbol
Full text search
Search by agenda item number
Search by session number
Search by subject
Enterprise search
search.un.org
Full text search
Refine by
Body
Date
Language
Also has other UN sources such as the Repertoire, the DESA website, etc.

60. Searching ODS By Document Symbol By Full Text
A/RES/67/2
S/2011
S/2012/13
By Full Text
Non-communicable diseases

61. UNBISnet Bibliographic records
Catalogue of the UN Library in New York
Multilingual versions of
UN documents (1993-present);
UN resolutions (1946-present);
Security Council documents (1946-present);
General Assembly Supplements (1946-present);
Citation to documents (1979-present)

62. UNBISnet Bibliographic Records
Search UN Documents by:
Title
Subject
Author
Type of material

64. UNBISnet Bibliographical Records: Exercises
Documents on peacekeeping operations and Sudan
Subject search
Limit by Secretary-General reports
Search for letters by Switzerland
About Syria

65. UNBISnet: Voting Database
Provides the recorded vote for all resolutions adopted by the General Assembly and Security Council
Search by
Resolution symbol;
Keyword

66. UNBISnet: Voting Database
Search for resolutions adopted with a vote in the General Assembly
On Human Rights
What countries voted No on the resolution relating to the situation of Human Rights in the Democratic Republic of Korea

67. UNBISnet Index to Speeches
Provides access to meeting records of the Principal organs, starting in 1983;
Search by:
Country or organization
Speaker
Document symbol
Topic

68. UNBISnet Index to Speeches: Exercises
Brahimi’s speeches in the Security Council
Speeches made by Argentina
In the Security Council
By the President of Argentina

69. Access UN Subscription database (Newsbank/Readex)
Index to 500k documents from six main UN bodies (35k full text)
Index bilateral and multilateral treaties in UNTS
Articles in UN periodicals individually indexed

73. Reasons for maintaining Access UN Subscription
Supports access to microform and paper formats of library’s collection.
As (another) search tool to locate UN documents.

74. Other databases

75. UNTERM https://unterm.un.org
Multilingual linguistic tool for finding the official terminology of the UN
Contains organizational titles and official country names

76. Treaty website treaties.un.org Status of Treaties
United Nations Treaty Series
League of Nations Treaty Series
Produced by the Office of Legal Affairs, Treaty Section

77. Status of Treaties
Over 650 multilateral treaties or conventions which the Secretary-General is considered a depositary
Organized by chapter (subject)
Updated daily
Contains information such as:
Parties
Signatories
Entry into force information
Declarations, Reservations, Communications, Territorial Applications

78. United Nations Treaty Series
Over 400,000 bilateral and multilateral treaties
PDFs of the entire UN Treaty Series volumes
Treaties available in authentic language plus English and French

79. UN Treaty Information: Exercises
How many signatories to the Paris Agreement? How many Parties?
Find the Pact of Amity between Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
When was it signed?
When was it registered with the UN?
Is there another agreement pursuant to that Pact of Amity?

80. Human Rights bodies databases
Universal Human Rights Index:
Treaty Bodies database:
OHCHR Jurisprudence database:
All of the UNHCHR databases can be found here:

81. UNCITRAL Products CISG digest: Clout New York Convention website
Article by article summaries of the case law
Also available from the PACE website
Clout
Covers CISG (approximately 831 cases)
Different faceting in the search
Cases have abstracts, which have been translated into the 6 official languages and published as UN official documents
New York Convention website

82. Dag HammarskjOld Library Products

83. Research Guides research.un.org Research Guides on a variety of topics
UN Documentation
Thematic Guides on the Work of the UN
Quick guides
UN Resources

84. AskDAG ask.un.org Database of FAQs (783 currently published)
Created and updated by library staff

85. Member states on the record
Direct access to official UN documents reflecting the actions of United Nations Member States, including:
Documents related to entry to the United Nations;
Statements made at General Assembly debates;
Draft resolutions sponsored by a country.

86. Table of General Assembly Resolutions
List of all resolutions by session
Agenda item
Draft resolutions
Meeting records

87. Actions Taken by the Security Council
Meetings and Outcomes
List of all meetings by year
Resolutions
Voting
Presidential Statements
Communiqués
Security Council Veto List

88. COMING SOON!!!!! New website (in the next few weeks)
New discovery tool and catalogue
to replace UNBISnet for the non-UN sources
New digital library
to replace UNBISnet for the UN sources