W3: Two Sides to the United Nations: Working with Public and Private International Law at the UN

1. W3: Two Sides to the United Nations: Working with Public and Private International Law at the UN Susan Goard, Speaker Dag Hammarskjold Library, United Nations

2. Outline • Overview of the UN System • Sources for UN information • UN documents, a primer • Sources for UN documents • Library Resources

3. About the UN

4. Principal Bodies • General Assembly • Security Council • Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) • Secretariat • Trusteeship Council • International Court of Justice

5. Taken from the UN website (http://www.un.org/en/aboutun/structure/pdfs/UN_System_Chart_2015_Rev.4_ENG_11x17colour.pdf) Structure of the UN

6. General Assembly • Composed of all member states (193) • Discusses any questions or matters within the scope of the Charter • Elects ECOSOC members, non-permanent Security Council members, ICJ Judges (with Security Council) • Appoints the Secretary-General (on the recommendation of the Security Council) • Considers and approves the budget of UN and UN member dues

7. General Assembly • Meets year round in New York though the bulk of activity takes place in September – December. • Meetings are divided into plenary and 6 main committees: • 1st committee: Disarmament and International Security • 2nd committee: Economic and Financial • 3rd committee: Social, Humanitarian and Cultural • 4th committee: Special Political and Decolonization • 5th committee: Administrative and Budget • 6th committee: Legal

8. General Assembly Along with the Main Committees, there are procedural and standing committees: • Procedural Committees: • General Committee • Credentials Committee • Standing Committees: • Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) • Committee on Contributions

9. General Assembly Subsidiary Organs: • Disarmament Commission • Human Rights Council • Universal Periodic Review • Human Rights Council Advisory Committee • Complaints Procedure • Special Procedures, Special Rapporteurs, Independent Experts, Human Rights Working Groups (Human Rights Experts) • Commissions of Inquiry • Syria, Gaza, DPKR, Eritrea, Sri Lanka • International Law Commission

10. General Assembly: Human Rights Bodies • Charter-based Bodies • Human Rights Council • Universal Periodic Review • Commission on Human Rights (replaced by the Human Rights Council) • Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council • Human Rights Council Complaint Procedure • Reports to the General Assembly • Supported by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) • Based in Geneva

11. General Assembly: Human Rights Bodies • Treaty Based Bodies • Human Rights Committee (CCPR) • Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) • Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) • Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) • Committee against Torture (CAT)  • Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) • Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) • Committee on Migrant Workers (CMW) • Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) • Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) • Monitor the implementation of the Core International Human Rights Instruments • Reports to the General Assembly • Supported by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights • Based in Geneva

12. General Assembly: UNCITRAL • Core legal body of the UN system for international trade law • Composed of 60 member states elected by the General Assembly • Based in Vienna

13. General Assembly: International Law Commission • Initiates studies and makes recommendations for the progressive codification of international law • Composed of 34 experts elected by the General Assembly, based on recommendations of the member states • Meets annually in Geneva • Reports to the General Assembly

14. General Assembly Ad hoc, advisory bodies, expert bodies Examples of Ad hoc committees: • Counterterrorism Implementation Task Force (CTITF) • Committee on Conferences • Committee on Information • Committee on the relations with the Host Country • Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People • And over 18 more… Examples of Advisory bodies: • Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters • Advisory Committee on the UN Programme of Assistance for the Teaching, Study, Dissemination and Wider Appreciation of International Law

15. General Assembly

16. Security Council • Concerned with Peace and Security • Sits year round in New York • Has 5 permanent members (P5), 10 non-permanent members who sit for two year terms • Document symbols start with S/

17. Security Council • Subsidiary Bodies: • Counter-terrorism committees • International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) • International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) • Military Staff Committee • Peacekeeping Operations and Political Missions • Sanctions Committee (ad hoc) • Standing Committees and ad hoc bodies

18. ECOSOC • Concerned with: • economic, cultural, social, educational, and health matters; • human rights and freedoms • Makes or initiates studies and reports • Makes recommendations to the General Assembly • Drafts Conventions • Convenes international conferences

19. ECOSOC • 54 members from member states • 18 new members elected every year for a 3 year term • Geographically distributed • Alternate meeting between New York and Geneva • Organizational session in the spring • Substantive sessions throughout the year, mostly in July

20. Secretariat • Administrative arm of the United Nations • Based all over the world (New York is considered the Headquarters) • Departments and Offices report to the Secretary-General • Secretariat Documentation starts with ST/

21. Secretariat • New York • Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) • Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) • Department of Political Affairs (DPA) • Department of Public Information (DPI) • Dag Hammarskjold Library • UN Information Centres • Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) • Office of Legal Affairs (OLA) • Geneva • Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) • United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) • United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG) • Others • United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON) • United Nations Office at Vienna (UNOV)

22. Trusteeship Council • Suspended Operation on 1 November 1994, as on 1 October 1994, Palau, the last United Nations Trust Territory, became independent • Council chamber is in New York • Documentation starts with T/

23. International Court of Justice • Principal Judicial Organ of the United Nations • Arbitrates on cases between States • Gives advisory opinions on International Law to the General Assembly and the Security Council • Documentation follows an entirely different pattern than the rest of the United Nations; • Sits in The Hague, Netherlands

24. UN Documents, a primer

25. Documents vs. Publications • "A document is a text submitted for examination to a principal or subsidiary organ of the United Nations, it usually focuses on one or more issues on the agenda of the organ concerned.” (ST/AI/189/Add.3/Rev.2)

26. Documents vs. Publications • “The term United Nations publication refers to any written material which is issued by or for the United Nations to the general public, normally under the authorization of the Publications Board.” (ST/AI/189/Add.3/Rev.2)

27. What is a document symbol • Combination of numbers and letters • Unique identifier for a UN document • 1 symbol for all languages • Indicates the organ to which the document is submitted • More informationhttp://research.un.org/en/docs/symbols

28. First component • Indicates the principal organ the document is being submitted to or the organ that is issuing the document. • A/- General Assembly • S/- Security Council • E/- Economic and Social Council • ST/- Secretariat • Some bodies have a special series symbol that does not reflect the parent organ • CRC/C/- : Committee on the Rights of the Child • DP/- : United Nations Development Programme • TD/- : United Nations Conference on Trade and Development • UNEP/- : United Nations Environment Programme

29. Second component Second component • Secondary and tertiary components indicate subsidiary bodies: • -/AC. .../- Ad hoc committee • -/C. .../- Standing, permanent, or main committee • -/CN. .../- Commission • -/CONF. .../- Conference • -/Sub. .../- Subcommission • -/WG. .../- Working group • Etc. • Examples • A/C.1/-General Assembly/First Committee • E/CN.9-ECOSOC/Commission on Population and Development

30. Special component • Special components reflect the nature of the document: • -/L. ... Limited distribution (generally draft documents) • -/PRST/- Statements by the President (Security Council, Human Rights Council) • -/PV. ... Verbatim records of meetings • -/RES/- Resolutions • -/SR. ... Summary records of meetings • etc. Examples: • A/C.1/60/PV.1- • A/ - General Assembly • /C.1/ - First Committee • /60/ - 60th session • /PV. - Summary Record • .1 - First meeting

31. Final components • The final component, appearing as a suffix to a symbol, reflects modifications to the original text: • -/Add. • Addendum • -/Amend. • Alteration, by decision of a competent authority, of a portion of an adopted formal text • -/Corr. • Corrigendum (may not apply to all language versions) • -/Rev. • Revision (replacing texts previously issued)

32. Examples • A/RES/68/243 • E/CONF.71/2 • ST/SGB/2011/1 • S/2014/4 • A/C.3/62/L.15/Rev.1

33. Main Types of UN documents • Main types of UN Documents: • Resolutions and Decisions • Meeting records • Letters • Reports • Presidential Statements • Detailed description of the different document types available in the UN Documentation Research Guide • http://research.un.org/en/docs

34. Resolutions • Formal expressions of the opinion or will of United Nations organs • Individual documents • General Assembly • A/RES/session/... • Security Council • S/RES/...(year) • Economic and Social Council (2012-) • E/RES/year/... • Human Rights Council • A/HRC/RES/session/...

35. Decisions • Used to designate formal actions, other than resolutions, dealing with non-substantive or routine matters such as: • Elections • Appointments • Time and place of meetings • Taking note of reports • Normally not issued as separate documents

36. Resolutions and Decisions: Compilations • The compilation volumes of resolutions and decisions of the principal organs (GA, SC, ECOSOC) • Text of resolutions and related information (sponsors, votes) • Text of decisions • Resolutions adopted by subsidiary bodies are usually published in the sessional report of the body • More informationhttp://research.un.org/en/docs/resolutions

37. Meeting Records • Meeting records contain: • Statements and speeches • Actions taken • There are two types of meeting records: • Verbatim records (“procès verbaux”) • Contains full, first-person account of the proceedings of a meeting: • …/PV.- • S/PV.5862 • A/64/PV.101 • Summary records • Contains a third-person condensed version of the proceedings of a meeting: • …/SR.- • A/C.5/62/SR.25 • E/2010/SR.22

38. Sessional Reports • Subsidiary bodies submit reports to their parent organ; • These reports are usually Supplements to the Official Records of the parent organ; • The reports contain: • Resolutions and decisions adopted by the subsidiary body; • Summary of the discussions held; • May include draft resolutions that the subsidiary body recommends the parent organ to adopt.

39. Reports of the Secretary-General • The Secretary-General submits reports to the principal organs on topics mandated by resolutions • There are many reports of the Secretary-General on many topics: • Peacekeeping operations; • Political situations; • Technical subjects; • Legal topics, etc. • No distinguishing symbol element for reports of the Secretary-General.

40. Letters • Letters may come from: • Member States; • Secretary-General; • Presiding officers of UN organs and subsidiaries. • Letters may be addressed to: • Secretary-General; • Presiding officers of UN organs and subsidiaries. • Letters may transmit reports, statements or outcome documents • of a subsidiary body; • of a regional group meeting; • of another international organization.

41. Section 3: Sources for UN documents

42. News and media monitoring / Social media • Meetings Coverage and Press Releases • http://www.un.org/press/en • UN News Centre • http://www.un.org/News/ • Allows for email alerts • Twitter • UN Main Twitter account (@UN) • DHL account (@UNLibrary)

43. Sales publications and Finding aids • Yearbooks • Repertory of Practice of United Nations Organs / Repertoire of Practice of the Security Council • Index to Proceedings • UN Legal Publications

44. Yearbooks • UN Yearbook • http://unyearbook.un.org/ • United Nations activities during the year; • Reproductions and citations of key documents; • Principal reference work of the United Nations. • Produced by the Department of Public Information, Outreach Division

45. Yearbooks • United Nations Juridical Yearbook • http://legal.un.org/UNJuridicalYearbook/ • United Nations juridical activities during the year; • Includes chapters on: • Legal Status of the UN (Treaties and Legislative texts) • Legal Activities of the UN (Treaties, Legal Opinions, Administrative Tribunal Decisions) • Judicial Decisions on questions relating to the UN (National and International Tribunals) • Produced by the Office of Legal Affairs, Codification Division

46. Yearbooks • Yearbook of the International Law Commission • http://legal.un.org/ilc/publications/yearbooks/ • Produced by the Office of Legal Affairs, Codification Divsion • UNCITRAL Yearbooks • http://www.uncitral.org/uncitral/publications/yearbook.html • Produced by UNCITRAL

47. Repertoryof Practice of the United Nations Organs • http://www.un.org/law/repertory/ • Analytic study of the decisions of the United Nations principal organs • Organized by articles under the UN charter • Each entry covers approximately 5-10 years • Produced by the Office of Legal Affairs, Codification Division

48. Repertoireof Practice of the Security Council • http://www.un.org/en/sc/repertoire/ • Analytic study of the decisions of the Security Council • Organized by • Agenda Item (Regional or Thematic) • Procedural Issues • Constitutional Issues (Chapters of the Charter) • Subsidiary Organs • Produced by the Department of Political Affairs, Security Council Affairs Division

49. Index to Proceedings • Annual Publications • Separate volumes for the General Assembly, Security Council, ECOSOC • comprised of a subject and an index to speeches • 2009- available online: http://www.un.org/depts/dhl/deplib/docs/ITP/list.htm • Produced by the Department of Public Affairs, Dag Hammarskjold Library

50. International Law Commission website • http://legal.un.org/ilc/ • Contains the Analytic Guide to the work of the ILC • Final Outcome documents • Summary Records • Reports of the ILC to the General Assembly • Produced by the Office of Legal Affairs, Codification Division