United Nations Resolutions related to your issue
The decisions made by the principle UN bodies (General Assembly, Economic and Social Council, and Security Council) are called resolutions. While not "legally" binding for member states, resolutions express the collective view of the member states on a particular issue and therefore carry the weight of world opinion. Much like legislation in the U.S. Congress, the procedure for passing a resolution in the General Assembly is a multi-step process. Resolutions are available in print and electronic form.
Current Resolutions
General Assembly
Electronic access is available in a number of places.
- AccessUN
provides full text of Security Council Resolutions from 1974 and of General Assembly Resolutions since 1983.
Hint: you need to search for 3 key "words":- Resolution (in Title)
- your subject (in Subject)
- A/Res/ S/Res/ or E/Res (in Document Number)
- United Nations Web sites:
Older Resolutions
For historical background on longstanding problems you may want to look at older resolutions. The sources below provide comprehensive compilations of resolutions.
- United Nations Resolutions, Series 1 : Resolutions Adopted by the General Assembly is a compilation of General Assembly resolutions. Includes texts of resolutions and voting tables. Also has a cumulative subject index. Covers 1946/47 to the present.
- The Official Records version of resolutions adopted by each of the principal UN bodies appears as an annual supplement to the Official Records for that body. They are shelved with UN Official Records in the International Documents collection in 2nd Floor Paterno Library Stacks:
(e-reference)