How to Find United Nations Meeting Records
Introduction
Representatives of Member States speak in meetings and these statements may be recorded in meeting records. Meeting records also record the vote, if any, on decisions taken during the course of a meeting.
Depending on the issuing body, meeting records can be issued as summary records, indicated by SR in the UN document symbol, or verbatim records, word for word accounts indicated by PV (procès verbaux) in the UN document symbol.
If you already have a symbol for a meeting record, please visit How to Find a UN Document Using a UN Document Symbol for more information.
Finding Meeting Record Statements by Country
If you are looking for statements made in meetings by a particular Member State, e.g. Italy, you can browse statements by country on UN Member States on the Record. This site provides links to statements made in the General Assembly General Debate, the General Assembly and its Main Committees, the Security Council, and the Economic and Social Council.
You can access UN Member States on the Record from the Member States link on the UN home page.
Show Me (html version)You can also search for statements by a particular Member State, e.g. France, using the United Nations Bibliographic Information System (UNBISnet): Index to Speeches. The Index to Speeches includes statements to all the bodies mentioned above as well as the Trusteeship Council. You can limit your search to a specific body.
Make sure to use the official UN name for the Member State when doing the search, e.g. Libyan Arab Jamahiriya for Libya. For a complete list of current official names, visit the Member States link on the UN home page.
You can access UNBISnet from the Documents link on the UN home page.
Show Me (html version)Finding Meeting Record or Statements by Speaker
You can search for statements by a particular speaker, e.g. Kofi Annan, using the UNBISnet: Index to Speeches.
You can access UNBISnet from the Documents link on the UN home page.
Show Me (html version)Finding Meeting Record Statements by Topic
You can search for statements on a particular topic, e.g. sports, using the UNBISnet: Index to Speeches or UNBISnet: Bibliographic Records. When searching the UNBISnet: Bibliographic Records, be sure to limit your search to "(B03) meeting records (UN)."
You can access UNBISnet from the Documents link on the UN home page.
Show Me (html version)