Information about Issues before the United Nations

You will need to research three aspects of your issue:

• the overall parameters of the issue : why does the United Nations feel a need to address the issue?
• current UN initiatives on this topic
• opposing positions to the issue

The resources below will provide a broad overview of a wide range of issues discussed at the United Nations. Use the information you gleaned from studying the structure of the UN to determine which UN agency is most likely to work on your topic. In addition to providing a broad overview of UN activities, these sources will provide citations to the working papers of the UN. These will provide a more in-depth analysis of topics.

• The Yearbook of the United Nations, which has been published since 1946, is an annual comprehensive review of UN activities. Provides references to UN documents, texts of resolutionsadopted, and some voting histories.
• The UN Chronicle is a quarterly magazine containing a summary of the latest activities at the UN. Includes important resolutions, votes, and speeches. It is a useful source for up-to-date information. It is available online via Proquest Direct (available to researchers with a Penn State Access Account).
• A Global Agenda : Issues before the . . . Session of the General Assembly is an annual publication by the United Nations Association. It provides background information on the key issues to be addressed by the UN in the current session and includes references to major documents. While Global Agenda is not available online, background information from the UNA is available at the United Nations Association Web site.
• The Annotated Preliminary List of Items to be Included in the Provisional Agenda of the Regular Session of the General Assembly is an annual General Assembly document providing an introduction to each item on the session agenda. It is more detailed than A Global Agenda. It also includes background information and citations to documents and reports related to each agenda item. It is available in the:
  • UN microfiche collection. The UN call number is often (though not always) A/[session number]/50 (e.g., A/53/50 for the list from the 53rd session). Ask at the Social Sciences Library Reference Desk (2nd Floor Paterno Library) for assistance.
  • While online versions lack much of the detail available in the printed version, they are available at the General Assembly Web site.