Treaties

Introduction

United Nations Treaty Series

League of Nations Treaty Series

Status of United Nations Treaties

Introduction

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.

The UN Treaty Series exists today in print and online, as part of the United Nations Treaty Collection (http://treaties.un.org/). The site overview includes definitions of key terms as well as a glossary of terms relating to treaty actions.

United Nations Treaty Series

The printed volumes of the United Nations Treaty Series (UNTS) 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 Series Database provides online access to the international instruments published in the United Nations Treaty Series.

When conducting treaty research, 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 of entry into force. All treaties in the online system are available in pdf format.

League of Nations Treaty Series

Information about the 205 volumes of the League of Nations Treaty Series (LoNTS) has been made available in the United Nations Treaty Collection website. During migration of the database, the full text of the League of Nations material was lost. Efforts are underway to recover this data. Basic information about the treaties is available.

Status of multilateral treaties

The status of Multilateral Treaties Deposited with the Secretary-General (MTDSG) can be researched online or in print. For each treaty, information is available on: ratification, accession, signature, etc. as well as texts of any declarations, reservations or objections. The printed publication gives the status as at 31 December of a given year; the online version is updated regularly.

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.

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