Researching the United Nations

United Nations documents are identified by a system of numbers and letters. Examples of document symbols include:

• A/RES/44/7
• A/CONF.192/2006/PC/L.1
• S/2005/831
• E/CN.17/2006/3

The first component of any UN document symbol generally indicates the principal organ to which the document

is submitted.

The second component following the forward slash after the first, indicates which subsidiary body generated the

document.  This component can be an abbreviation or an assigned code.

Example: A/CN.9/55

•       A= General Assembly

•       CN.9 = UNCITRAL, United Nations Commission on International Trade Law

•       55= The 55th document issued in connection with UNCITRAL’s work. 

•       It is a report from 1971 regarding international shipping legislation.

• The best place to start your research is the online database is the Official Document System of the United Nations (ODS).

• Documents are stored in two databases

  • UN Documents, which includes documents back to 1992

  • UN Resolutions, which includes resolutions back to 1946

• Unfortunately this system does not contain press releases, UN sales publications or UN treaties

• Search the UN

  •  http://search.un.org/index.php?lang=en

• Official Document System Search

  • https://documents.un.org/prod/ods.nsf/home.xsp

The UN Digital Library launched in May 2017, taking over the former database UNBISnet.

Content in the Digital Library includes:

•       UN documents and open access publications
•       UN voting data and speeches
•       UN maps

     https://digitallibrary.un.org/