Under Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations, every treaty and international agreement entered into by a Member State of the UN shall be registered with and published by the Secretariat. Regulations to give effect to Article 102 were adopted by the General Assembly in 1946 and subsequently modified a number of times. Pursuant to the mandate contained in Article 102, the United Nations Treaty Series (UNTS) was created. It exists today in printed format and as an Internet database forming part of the subscription-based United Nations Treaty Collection (http://untreaty.un.org/). Freely accessible on this site are definitions of key terms as well as a glossary relating to treaty actions. These two listings define terms such as accession or ratification and clarify the distinction between, for example, declarations and memoranda of understanding.

The printed volumes of the United Nations Treaty Series reproduce the text of treaties and international agreements registered or filed and recorded with the Secretariat since 1946 in the authentic treaty language(s), together with translations into English and French, as required. A cumulative index provides access to the volumes by subject, participants and date. The United Nations Treaty Database is an online storage and retrieval system for the international instruments published in the United Nations Treaty Series. When conducting treaty research, it is important to bear in mind that there may be a substantial gap between the adoption date and the registration date of a treaty or between the adoption date and the date a treaty entered into force. In order to provide access to recently adopted treaties, a special section has been added to the Internet site which contains the full text of treaties deposited with the Secretary-General but not yet published in the United Nations Treaty Series. All treaties in the online system are only available as computer images; full-text searching is not possible. Basic and advanced search modes are offered.

The following fields can be searched in the basic search mode:

• Title/Keyword (words appearing in the title of an agreement)
• International Agreements by Popular Name

The following fields can be searched in the advanced search mode:

• Title/Keyword (words appearing in the title of an agreement)
• Type of Agreement (multilateral, bilateral)
• Signature/Adoption Date
• Participants (states, international organizations, UN organs and agencies)
• Subject (available from a scroll-down list)
• Organization
• International Agreements by Popular Name
• UN Treaty Registration Number (a number which identifies a treaty and all associated records).
  
  

The 205 volumes of the League of Nations Treaty Series have been made available in the same search format as the United Nations Treaty Series.

The status of multilateral treaties for which the Secretary-General functions as depositary can be researched in printed format or via the Internet as part of the subscription-based United Nations Treaty Collection. The printed publication, entitled Multilateral Treaties Deposited with the Secretary-General, gives the status as at 31 December of a given year. In addition to ratification information, it also reprints the declarations, reservations and objections which States Parties have lodged with respect to certain instruments. The Internet version of the printed publication provides the same information with the advantage of being more up-to-date.

In response to requests from UN bodies, the Secretary-General also reports on the status of individual conventions or groups of conventions. Additionally, the Secretariats of some UN bodies issue status documents for the treaties that relate to their work.

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.