The purpose of this guide is to provide information on researching the main bodies of the United Nations (see below) and their subsidiary organs. It does not cover related specialized agencies, such as the ILO, WHO, and WIPO, which have their own deliberative bodies, secretariats, member nations, and budgets.
The United Nations Organization is the world's most important inter-governmental organization. It was founded in the aftermath of World War II, with a broad mandate to maintain peace and security through collective action, to further economic and social development, secure human rights, achieve decolonization, and promote the progressive development of international law. The Charter of the U.N. was adopted on June 26th, 1945 at the United Nations Conference on International Organization, in San Francisco. The Charter was signed by 51 founding nations, and today membership stands at 193. Background information on the U.N.'s development can be found at the History of the United Nations web site.
The U.N. comprises six principal organs: the Secretariat, the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, International Court of Justice, and the Trusteeship Council. However, the Trusteeship Council suspended operations in 1994 with the independence of Palau, the last remaining trust territory. United Nations research usually concerns the actions and resulting documentation of the General Assembly, Security Council, and Econoic and Social Council.
The General Assembly is the main deliberative, policymaking and representative organ of the United Nations, comprising all 193 member nations. Each nation has one vote. Decisions on important questions, such as those on peace and security, admission of new members and budgetary matters, require a two-thirds majority. Decisions on other questions are by simple majority. Decisions are in the form of resolutions. The General Assembly has six main committees: Disarmament and International Security; Economic and Financial; Social, Humanitarian, and Cultural; Special Political and Decolonization; Administrative and Budgetary; Legal. There are also many subsidiary bodies, Programs and Funds, Research and Training Institutes, and other U.N. entities that report directly to the G.A. Among the General Assembly's subsidiary bodies, the International Law Commission (A/CN.4/...), the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) (A/CN.9/...), the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/...), and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (A/AC.96/...), are all of particular interest to legal researchers.
The regular session begins on the Tuesday of the third week in September. From the 1st session (1946) through the 30th session (1975), General Assembly meetings and documents were consecutively numbered. At the 31st session, the symbols began to include the session number.
The basic format for the symbols of General Assembly documents is:
The purpose of the Security Council is to maintain international peace and security. The Security Council investigates and adjusts disutes, determines the existence of a threat to the peace or act of aggression and recommends what action should be taken (including economic sanctions and military action), recomends Secretary General appointees to the G.A., recommends new member nations, and elects members of the International Court of Justice, together with the G.A. The S.C. is made up of five permanent members (France, U.K., People's Republic of China, Russian Federation, U.S.) and ten non-permanent members elected to two-year terms. Adoption of resolutions on substantive matters requires nine votes (including concurring votes of all five permanent members). The S.C. has a number of subsidiary bodies, including standing and ad hoc committees, as well as other bodies, such as peacekeeping operations, political missions, and ad hoc criminal tribunals.
The Security Council does not meet sessionally but stands ready to convene at any time as the need arises. The basic format for the symbols of Security Council documents is:
The Economic and Social Council debates and recommends policies related to the world's economic and social problems. It is responsible for 14 specialized agencies, nine "functional" commissions, and five regional commissions, altogether comprising 70% of the U.N.'s human and financial resources. The 14 Specialized Agencies are autonomous, each having its own membership, governing body (or bodies), budget, and secretariat. ECOSOC itself has 54 member nations, elected by the G.A. for three-year terms, 18 each year. Among ECOSOC's subsidiary bodies, the Human Rights Commission (E.CN.4/...) is of particular interest to legal researchers.
ECOSOC currently holds an organizational session in the spring and a substantive session in July. The substantive session is convened alternately in New York (even years) and Geneva (odd years) and is divided into:
The basic format for the symbols of ECOSOC documents is:
From 1946 to 1977, the symbol pattern was E/sequential number:
The International Court of Justice, known informally as the World Court, is the principal judicial body of the U.N. It sits at the Hague, Netherlands. It is empowered to hear cases involving disputes between member nations and to give advisory opinions to the S.C. and G.A., and to any other organ of the U.N. if authorized by the G.A. to do so. Jurisdiction is exercised under the Statue of the International Court of Justice. The 15 judges of the Court are elected for nine-year terms by the G.A. and S.C., and no two may be nationals of the same state. Researching the case law of the I.C.J. is covered by a separate research guide, Public International Law - Case Reports.
For more information on the structure of the U.N., see here, or refer to the organizataional chart below (click on image to download PDF):
The U.N. can trace its origins ultimately to the Concert of Europe, the diplomatic settlement established by the Great Powers following the Napoleonic wars to maintain peace and security in Europe. The Concert of Europe was an informal structure without written rules or permanent institutions. Political and economic rivalries among the Great Powers, and especially the unification of Germany in 1871, weakened the Concert of Europe, and the impetus to foster global peace and security shifted to international law. In particular, the first Geneva Conventions (1864 and 1906) and the Hague Conventions (1899 and 1907) established rules for the peaceful settlement of international disputes, rules for the conduct of war, and principles of humanitarian relief in wartime.
Following World War I, collective responsibility to maintain peace and security was for the first time entrenched in a treaty-based, inter-governmental orgainzation. The League of Nations was established by Article I of the Treaty of Versailles (Covenant of the League of Nations), which ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. Like the U.N., the League had an Assembly with representatives of each member nation, a Council combining permanent and non-permanent members, and a Secretariat. The League also included a Permanent Court of International Justice (provided for by the League Covenant, but established by the Assembly and Council) and the International Labor Organization, an autonomous agency under the budgetary authority of the League.
The League was actively involved in international affairs until the outbreak of World War II. It essentially ceased operation in 1939, and was formally dissolved in 1946. Both the I.L.O. and P.C.I.J. (as the I.C.J.) were transferred to the new U.N.
The League of Nations Treaty Series, comprising 205 volumes published 1920-1946, is available electronically in the HeinOnline United Nations Law Collection. The decisions, pleadings, annual reports, and other documents of the Permanent Court of International Justice, are available electronically at the web site of the I.C.J. The League of Nations Official Journal is also available in HeinOnline.
A brief chronology of the League of Nations is available here. A brief history of the P.C.I.J. and I.C.J. is found here. See also:
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