3. Documents

The documents in the Depository Library are the following:

• Official documents: documents from the different organs of the United Nations System.
• Periodic publications, such as the United Nations Yearbook, Demographic Yearbook, the magazine UN Chronicle, the Yearbook of the International Law Commission, etcetera.
• Treaty Series: the Library owns the important collection of international treaties created during the earlier League of Nations (1919-1946) (League of Nations Treaty Series); and the United Nations Treaty Series and Multilateral Treaties deposited with the Secretary General.
• The batch of materials is completed by a specialized bibliography about International Law, Social Sciences and United Nations.

Available material in the Library

Official documents: classified under the rules of the United Nations and attending to each organ as follows:

1. United Nations Main Organs: General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council, Secretary-General, International Court of Justice and Trusteeship Council.

2. Subsidiary Organs: There are some important subsidiary organs that deserve its own classification.  For example the Disarmament Committee, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) or the United Nations Depelovment Programe (UNDP).

3. Internacional treaties. Compliance includes, as a result, specific series of documents. For example, documents related to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination,  International Pact about Civil and Politic Rights, Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and United Nations Convention on the Law.

Documentation concerning the United Nations System for the protec13.06.2007ans created by virtue of international treaties is also available in the Library.

Research and reports: some of them are the same of the official documents, but they have also been classified according to the organ that gives origin to them.

Periodical publications: includes all the periodical publications in alphabetical order (Annuaires, Statistics, Magazines, Bulletins, etcetera).

Index of Documents of the United Nations are classified separately. 
        

GENERAL ASSEMBLY
The General Assembly is the main deliberative organ of the United Nations. Each of the 192 Member States is represented there. Discussion of any subject within the limits of the Charter of San Francisco 1945 is permitted.

Documents

1. Sessions
The Library contains all the Resolutions, Annexes, Addendas and Documents of the regular sessions (annuals), special sessions (for example the Disarmament Session in 1978) and emergency sessions since October 1996.

2. Main Commissions.
Include for example the following:

• A/ CN.4: Commission on Human Rights.
• A/CN.9: International Commercial Law Commission.
• A/CN.10: Disarmament Commission.

3. Documents from Committees.
The Library contains documents from over 171 Committees, including permanents and ad hoc for a particular theme. Some examples of permanents Committees are the following:

• A/AC.96: Executive Committee of the High Commissioners Programme.
• A/AC.105: Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.
• A/AC.109: Decolonization Committee.

4. Documents from the Conferences.
Some examples are the following:

• A/CONF.114: International Conference on Palestinian problem.
• A/CONF.117: International Conference on Succession of States in Respect of State Property, Archives and Debts.
• A/CONF.151: International Conference on Trade, Environment and Development.
• A/CONF/183: International Court of Justice.

5. Funds and Programmes. They are subsidiary organs of the United Nations System. Among them we can find the followings:

UNDCP (United Nations International Drug Control Programme)
UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme)
UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund)
UNDP (United Nations Development Programme)

 SECURITY COUNCIL

It is the main organ of the United Nations charged with maintaining peace and security among nations. While other organs of the United Nations only make recommendations to member governments, the Security Council has the power to make decisions which member governments must carry out under the United Nations Charter. The decisions of the Council can even imply a military action against an aggressor.
The Security Council is made up of 15 member states, consisting of five permanent seats and ten temporary seats.

 Document collections

1. Oficial Documents
Resolutions and decisions, supplements, stenographic acts, notes by its President.

2. Committees. Some Committees that have been established by resolutions of the Security Council:
- S/AC.20: Security Council Committee established by resolution 421 (1977) concerning the question of South Africa.
- S/AC.25: Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 661 (1990) concerning the situation between Iraq and Kuwait
- S/AC.42: Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1518 (2003) concerning the situation in Iraq.

 ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL

The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations assists the General Assembly in promoting international economic and social cooperation and development.

Decisions are taken by a majority and each member has a vote. There are some short sessions during the year, one session 4 weeks long and some previous meetings.

The permanent workis made by its subsidiary bodies.

Document collections

1. Documents from the Conventions. Examples:
- E/CONF.82/16: Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances
- E/CONF.85/3: Convention on Geographic Names.
- E/CONF.88/1: Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.

2. Documents from Commissions and Committees: UNICEF, Human Rights, Social Development, Commission on the Status of Women, etcetera.

SECRETARIAT

International staff working in duty stations around the world: carries out the diverse day-to-day work of the Organization. It services the other principal organs of the United Nations and administers the programmes and policies laid down by them. At its head is the Secretary-General, who is the diplomatic symbol of the United Nations.

Document collections

1. Annual Reports of the Secretary-General.
2. Monographs of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
3. Publications from the United Nations Department of Public Information.

INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE

It is the primary judicial organ of the United Nations, based in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands, sharing the building with the Hague Academy of International Law.

Its main functions are to settle legal disputes submitted to it by states and to give advisory opinions on legal questions submitted to it by duly authorized international organs and agencies.

Document collections

Annual Reports for the General Assembly.

UNITED NATIONS SYSTEM FOR THE PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS.

The United Nations system for the promotion and protection of human rights consists of two main types of body: bodies created under the UN Charter and bodies created under the international human rights treaties. Most of these bodies receive secretariat support from the Treaties and Commission Branch of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

1. Organs created by virtue of the United Nations Charter:

• Human Rights Council, established by virtue of the Resolution of the General Assembly AG 60/251.
• Commission on Human Rights (CHR). This body has been replaced by the Human Right Council. All the documents containing its task can be found in the Library DL/62.
• Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights Pursuant to General Assembly resolution 60/251.

2. Organs created under the international human rights treaties

• Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD). Body of independent experts that monitors implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination by its State parties.
• Human Rights Committee (HRC). Body of independent experts that monitors implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by its State parties.
• Committee Against Torture (CAT). Body of independent experts that monitors implementation of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment by its State parties.
• Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Body of independent experts that monitors implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child by its State parties. It also monitors implementation of two optional protocols to the Convention, on involvement of children in armed conflict and on sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.
• Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly.
• Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (CMW). Body of independent experts that monitors implementation of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families by its State parties.
• Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR). Body of independent experts that monitors implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights by its States parties. The Committee was established under ECOSOC Resolution 1985/17.

 OTHER ORGANS CREATED BY VIRTUE OF INTERNATIONAL TREATIES.

Following the warrant of the Charter of San Francisco, the main Organs of the United Nations have been signing treaties that foreseen independent bodies to control their enforcement. The Depositary Library owns the documentation related to them. For example:

• Convention on Law of the Sea (UNCLOS, also called simply the Law of the Sea or LOS):

• SPLOS (States Parties to United Nations Law of Sea Convention).
• CLCLS (Commission on limits of the continental platform).

• United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC).
• United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).