United Nations Documents

For more details, see United Nations Documentation: Research Guide   UN Document Symbols

Basics of Symbols
A symbol serves as a unique identifier for a United Nations document. Each symbol is composed of numbers and letters which do not give any significant indication of the subject of a document. All language versions of a document carry the same symbol.

Structure of Symbols

First component 

Usually, the first component indicates the organ to which the document is being submitted or the organ that is issuing the document:
 

Some bodies have a special series symbol that does not reflect the parent organ. For example:

Second component
Secondary and tertiary components indicate subsidiary bodies:

Special components

Special components reflect the nature of the document:

  Final component

The final component, appearing as a suffix to a symbol, reflects modifications to the original text:

Session or year component

Many document symbols now include sessional or year elements, usually following the components that indicate the body. This was not the case prior to 1976 when the General Assembly began this practice. Other organs adopted similar practices. Subsidiary bodies generally follow the practice of the parent organ.

The General Assembly began to incorporate the session number into the symbols of its documents in 1976, at its 31st session (e.g., A/31/99).

In 1978, the Economic and Social Council began incorporating the year into the symbols of its documents (e.g., E/1978/99).

The Security Council began doing the same in 1994 (e.g., S/1994/99), with the exception of resolutions and meeting records.

Examples