Current information about meetings of United Nations bodies may be obtained from the Journal of the United Nations. The Journal is an often underutilized resource which serves two key purposes:

(1) It informs us of meetings of the General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council and other bodies scheduled to take place on a given day, as well as identifies the symbols of major documents to be considered at the meetings -- even when the documents may not yet have been officially released; and

(2) It summarizes actions taken at the previous day's meetings and can be used by researchers who have a basic familiarity with the UN's document series symbol system to project symbols of meeting records and resolutions even before they are officially issued.

Past issues of the Journal are available through the Advanced Search option of the Official Document System of the United Nations (ODS). In the database selection box, highlight Daily Journal – New York. This automatically adds today’s date to the search fields; modify the dates according to your search. The ODS Journal collection begins in 1993. The Journal is issued in all official languages during the main part of the General Assembly session from September through December, and in English and French during the rest of the year.

The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), which primarily deals with economic, social, cultural and health matters as well as human rights and fundamental freedoms, also has a coordinating function for the work of the United Nations and the specialized agencies. It consists of 54 members, 18 of which are elected each year by the General Assembly for a three-year term.

The ECOSOC currently holds an organizational session in the spring and a substantive session in July. The substantive session, convened alternately in New York (even years) and Geneva (odd years), is divided into the following parts: high-level segment, operational activities segment, coordination segment, humanitarian affairs segment and general segment. The Rules of Procedure of the Economic and Social Council are contained in document E/5715/Rev.2 (Sales number 92.I.22). Background information about the work of the Council can be retrieved from the Repertory of Practice of United Nations Organs.

The basic format for the symbols of ECOSOC documents is: E/[year]/[sequential number], e.g., E/2010/100. From 1946 to 1977, the format was E/[sequential number], e.g., E/6014.

The Council's annual report to the General Assembly on its activities is assigned the sequential number "3" for the session in question (e.g., A/64/3 + Add.1) and is subsequently published as Supplement No. 3 to the Official Records of the General Assembly. The annexes include membership lists for the Council and its subsidiary bodies and a listing of intergovernmental organizations participating in ECOSOC deliberations.

The basic biennial programme of work is prepared for the organizational session and is assigned the sequential number "1" for the year in question (e.g., E/2010/1). From this document the Council determines its agenda and programme of work for the substantive session.

The provisional agenda for the organizational session is assigned the sequential number "2" for the year in question (e.g., E/2010/2 + Add.1 + Corr.1; for the substantive session it carries the sequential number "100" (e.g., E/2010/100). Both listings provide information on the authority of each agenda item and the major documentation scheduled to be submitted under it.

The Secretary-General reports to the Council on issues called for by resolutions. Retrospectively, the symbols of these reports can be identified through the Index to Proceedings of the Economic and Social Council. For current sessions, for which the Index has not yet been published, researchers can keep tabs on these reports by consulting the annotations in the provisional agendas (see above) or UNBISnet.

The full text of recent reports can be retrieved from UNBISnet, the ECOSOC website and the Official Document System of the United Nations (ODS).

A number of subsidiary bodies (e.g., Commission on Population and Development, Commission on Sustainable Development) fall within the purview of the ECOSOC and are required to report annually (sometimes biannually) on their activities. The reports contain resolutions/decisions adopted by the subsidiary body and may, in some instances, forward draft resolutions or decisions which are being recommended to the Council or through the Council to the Assembly for adoption. Generally, the reports are issued as Supplements to the Official Records of the Economic and Social Council. Complete listings of the document symbols for the reports of all subsidiary bodies (1946 onwards) can be obtained from UN-I-QUE.

The full text of recent reports can be retrieved from UNBISnet, the ECOSOC website and the Official Document System of the United Nations (ODS).

Prepared and maintained by the Department of Public Information (DPI), Dag Hammarskjöld Library (DHL) . Comments as well as suggestions for further additions/enhancements may be directed to the Dag Hammarskjöld Library.