|
Introduction
Series symbols records are created to provide access to UN documentation by series symbols.
Symbols of United Nations documents are composed of capital letters combined with numerals,
usually Arabic. When Roman numerals are used they usually indicate the ordinal number of the
session or of the subsidiary organ. The oblique stroke (/) is used to separate the components of the symbol.
Click on the following links to go a specific information:
| 1) Basic series elements of the 5 principal UN organs |
| 2) Basic series symbols established for certain bodies |
| 3) Basic series symbols established for subsidiary bodies |
| 4) Elements that could be added to any series symbol: |
The basic series elements of the five principal United Nations organs are:
| A/ | General Assembly |
| E/ | Economic and Social Council |
| S/ | Security Council |
| T/ | Trusteeship Council |
| ST/ | Secretariat |
Special basic series symbols have been established for certain bodies, e.g.:
| AT/ |
United Nations Administrative Tribunal |
| CERD/ |
International Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Racial Discrimination |
| DP/ |
United Nations Development Programme |
| ID/ |
United Nations Industrial Development Organization |
| TD/ |
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development |
| UNEP/ |
United Nations Environment Programme |
| UNITAR/ |
United Nations Institute for Training and Research |
| WFC/ |
World Food Council |
The documents of the subsidiary organs normally carry a symbol consisting of the basic series symbol of the parent body plus one or more of the following elements:
| -/AC.-/ |
Ad hoc committee or similar body |
| -/C.-/ |
Standing, permanent or sessional committee |
| -/CN.-/ |
Commission |
| -/CONF.-/ |
Conference |
| -/GC.-/ |
Governing Council |
| -/PC.-/ |
Preparatory committee |
| -/SC.-/ |
Sub-committee |
| -/Sub.-/ |
Sub-commission |
| -/WG.-/ |
Working Group |
| -/WP.-/ |
Working Party |
Basic series of subsidiary organs are usually numbered in the order of their establishment
or convocation.
The documents of some subsidiary organs bear a symbol consisting of the basic series symbol
of the parent body followed by the acronym of the subsidiary organ, e.g.:
| A/SPC/ |
Special Political Committee of the General Assembly |
| E/ESCWA/ |
Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia |
| E/ICEF/ |
United Nations Children's Fund |
i) Elements denoting the nature of the document:
| -/INF. | Information series |
| -/MIN. | Minutes |
| -/NGO/ | Documents containing communications from non-governmental organizations |
| -/PET/ | Petitions |
| -/PV. | Verbatim reports of meetings (procès-verbaux) |
| -/RES/ | Mimeographed texts of adopted resolutions |
| -/RT/ | Record of testimony |
| -/SR. | Summary records of meetings |
| -/WP. | Working paper |
Maintained by the Department of Public Information (DPI), Dag Hammarskjöld Library. Comments as well as suggestions for further additions/enhancements may be directed to the Dag Hammarskjöld Library.
© United Nations 2004-2008. All rights reserved.
Last updated: 3 April 2008
|
