Official Records of the General Assembly

Official Records of the General Assembly
Name	Official Records of the General Assembly
Caption	Cover of a volume
Author	United Nations General Assembly
Country	United Nations
Language	English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Russian
Subject	International diplomacy; multilateral deliberations
Genre	Official records; proceedings
Publisher	United Nations
Pub date	1946–present
Media type	Print; digital
Pages	varies

Official Records of the General Assembly is the formal, published compilation of verbatim debates, resolutions, credentials reports, and documentation emanating from sessions of the United Nations General Assembly. The set functions as the documentary archive supporting the activities of the United Nations Secretariat, Security Council, Economic and Social Council, and specialized agencies such as the World Health Organization, International Labour Organization, and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Volumes record interventions by representatives of member states including delegations from United Kingdom, United States, China, France, Russian Federation, and regional groups like the African Union and European Union as they engage with treaties such as the UN Charter, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Convention on the Rights of the Child, and Paris Agreement.

History and Development

The origins trace to preparatory work of the San Francisco Conference and the adoption of the UN Charter in 1945, with early publications reflecting inputs from delegations such as Truman Administration, Clement Attlee, Winston Churchill-era representatives, and delegations influenced by the Yalta Conference settlements. Throughout the Cold War, the records documented interactions involving the Soviet Union, United States Department of State, Foreign Office (United Kingdom), and leaders associated with events like the Berlin Blockade, Korean War, and Suez Crisis. Post-Cold War expansion paralleled the enlargement of membership, including entries by states emerging from the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the breakup of Yugoslavia, and accession of South Sudan. Institutional reforms such as those proposed by the Annan reforms and debated by secretaries-general including Trygve Lie, Dag Hammarskjöld, Kurt Waldheim, Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, Boutros Boutros‑Ghali, Kofi Annan, and Ban Ki-moon are traceable through successive volumes.

Purpose and Scope

The principal purpose is to furnish an authoritative record of deliberations, votes, roll calls, and committee reports produced under the auspices of the United Nations General Assembly. It serves diplomats from missions like Permanent Mission of the United Kingdom to the United Nations, negotiators from delegations such as the People's Republic of China Permanent Mission to the UN, and representatives of intergovernmental organizations including the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organization, and International Criminal Court. Scope encompasses plenary sittings, committee sessions of First Committee (Disarmament and International Security), Second Committee (Economic and Financial), Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural), Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization), and Sixth Committee (Legal), as well as annexes like credentials reports and lists of participating nongovernmental organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

Content and Organization

Volumes include verbatim records of general debate speeches by heads of state such as Nelson Mandela, Mikhail Gorbachev, Ronald Reagan, John F. Kennedy, and Margaret Thatcher, statements by ministers like Madeleine Albright and Sergei Lavrov, and written texts of draft resolutions introduced by blocs including the Non-Aligned Movement and the Organization of American States. Appendices compile voting records, report texts from committees chaired by figures like Vladimir Voronkov or Sergiy Kyslytsya, corrigenda, and lists of documents issued under symbols such as A/RES and A/CONF. Entries cross-reference landmark instruments including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, Geneva Conventions, Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and proceedings connected to missions like UNPROFOR and UNAMID.

Production and Publication Process

Compilation is managed by the United Nations Documentation Division within the Department for General Assembly and Conference Management, coordinated with the Office of Legal Affairs, Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, and the Department of Economic and Social Affairs. The process involves stenographic services, translation into the six official languages of the United Nations—Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish—and editorial review for conformity with UN publication standards. Printing historically occurred through UN printing services in New York City and regional depositories such as the UN Office at Geneva and UN Office at Nairobi; contemporary workflows integrate digital typesetting, metadata tagging, and cataloguing aligned with systems like the Integrated Library System and partners including the Library of Congress and British Library.

Accessibility and Formats

Public access is provided via the United Nations Digital Library, where users can retrieve digitized volumes, XML marked-up transcripts, and metadata for archival retrieval alongside holdings in national libraries like the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, and Biblioteca Nacional de España. Formats span bound print editions, PDF, searchable text, and machine-readable datasets used by researchers at institutions such as Harvard University, Columbia University, University of Oxford, Stanford University, and policy centers like the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Chatham House. Interoperability with platforms including JSTOR, HeinOnline, and repositories like United Nations Treaty Collection enhances discoverability for scholars studying episodes like the Gulf War, Rwandan Genocide, and Syrian Civil War.

Legal Status and Use in Proceedings

While not itself a treaty, the records function as authoritative evidence in legal, diplomatic, and historical analyses, cited before judicial bodies such as the International Court of Justice, International Criminal Court, and in arbitral tribunals administered under rules of the Permanent Court of Arbitration. Scholars and practitioners reference debates when construing obligations under instruments like the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and during proceedings involving parties including Israel, Palestine, Iran, and Iraq. The records are recognized by national courts, legislative bodies like the United States Congress and the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and investigative panels such as commissions set up after events like the Ebola epidemic in West Africa and inquiries into responses to crises led by panels featuring figures like Kofi Annan.

Category:United Nations publications