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Editorial Manual | Resolutions and other formal decisions of United Nations organs
II. Drafting and editing
Contents
A. General observation
Draft texts of resolutions are submitted in one language only.
They are given limited distribution and are issued with an /L. ... component in the symbol (see United Nations Documentation: Research Guide for additional information on document symbols).
B. Titles
In many cases, the title of a resolution is that of the relevant agenda item. However, a modification of the wording may sometimes be required. Where a number of resolutions relating to the same agenda item have been adopted, they should be given different titles. The title of a draft resolution is normally given by the sponsor. If no title is supplied, the editor should consult with the facilitator of the draft resolution or the secretariat of the body concerned.
Security Council resolutions do not bear a title.
The names of organs, offices and instruments used in titles should always be given in full.
Although general practice is not to cite resolutions by title, sometimes the title is needed for clarity or political reasons. Also, it may be preferable to use “entitled” and quotation marks if the resolution title includes a colon. If a resolution citation is followed by “entitled”, paired commas should be used to set off the phrase; otherwise, no commas.
Examples:
Recalling its resolution 66/100 of 9 December 2011 on the responsibility of international organizations,
Recalling its resolution 67/34 of 3 December 2012, entitled “Towards a nuclear-weapon-free world: accelerating the implementation of nuclear disarmament commitments”,
The name of the adopting body should, to the extent possible, precede the resolution number, for example: Economic and Social Council resolution 2017/28 of 25 July 2017. For longer titles, it may be necessary to invert: resolution 4/3 of 28 October 2011 of the Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption. If, however, the Conference was previously identified, the latter formulation should be simply “Conference resolution 4/3 of 28 October 2011”.
C. Order of elements
The order of the component elements of resolutions of United Nations organs should be as follows: (a) the name of the organ; (b) the preamble, if any; (c) the operative part.
Each preambular paragraph begins with a present, past or perfect participle or participial phrase or an adjective. Each operative paragraph begins with an operative verb (or phrase) in the present indicative tense.
Examples:
The General Assembly, [Note: the comma is not italicized]
Having examined the report...
1. Decides...
* * *
The General Assembly [Note: no comma is used if there is no preambular part]
1. Takes note with appreciation of the report of the Secretary-General on the establishment of...
2. Requests the Secretary-General...
The text of the resolution is normally followed by an indication of the meeting at which it was adopted and the date of adoption.
Example:
82nd plenary meeting
29 November 1979
In the case of a resolution adopted at a meeting that continued after midnight, the actual date of adoption should be given. For instance, if a meeting began on 16 December and finished at 12.45 a.m. on 17 December, and a resolution was adopted after midnight, the date of adoption of the resolution would be 17 December.
The indication of the meeting and the date of adoption should follow each resolution in the case of two or more resolutions grouped under a single number and title and identified by capital letters.
When a Security Council resolution is issued in the S/RES form, the indication of the meeting and the date of adoption precede the text of the resolution. In the Official Records supplement, this information, together with the result of the vote, appears after the text of the resolution.
When General Assembly resolutions are incorporated in the Official Records supplement for a given session, the indication of the meeting and the date of adoption are included in the information provided before the text of each resolution, pursuant to section C, paragraph 3, of Assembly resolution 54/248.
TOPD. Numbering and arrangement of paragraphs
According to the current practice, preambular paragraphs are not numbered; operative paragraphs are numbered with arabic numerals, but a single operative paragraph is not numbered. Some early resolutions followed a different style. When it is necessary to refer to or quote texts following an earlier style, such references or quotations should conform to the earlier style.
If a paragraph of either the preamble or the operative part is subdivided, the first degree of subparagraphs should be identified by lower-case letters between parentheses: (a), (b), etc.; the second degree by lower-case roman numerals between parentheses: (i), (ii), etc.
Note: Styles vary according to the language.
The word “and” should not be used to link any of the paragraphs or subparagraphs of a resolution, whether in the preamble or in the operative part.
An operative paragraph is one that begins with an operative verb. Only the opening operative verb is italicized (see also section G below).
An operative paragraph that is subdivided after the operative verb is a single paragraph and the subdivisions are subparagraphs.
E. References to paragraphs
When it is necessary to refer to a particular paragraph of a preamble, ordinal numbers should be used, for example, "the second preambular paragraph", not "preambular paragraph 2". The first line of a resolution (The General Assembly,) does not count as a preambular paragraph.
An operative paragraph of an adopted resolution should be identified by its number, for example resolution 34/50, paragraph 5. The word “operative” should not be used in specific references to numbered operative paragraphs of adopted resolutions. If a resolution has a single operative paragraph, no number is given and the paragraph should be referred to as “the operative paragraph”.
Examples:
... as indicated in General Assembly resolution 2091 (XX), paragraph 2
... as described in the operative paragraph of General Assembly resolution 34/3 of 4 October 1979
The word “operative” may, however, be used with reference to numbered operative paragraphs of a draft resolution, particularly in an amendment to a draft resolution and in the record of a debate on the text. It may also be kept in a verbatim record when it is used by a speaker in the explanation of a vote on a resolution just adopted.
If there is only a subparagraph (a) in a given paragraph, “(a)” cannot be used on its own and the text should run on.
When a reference is made in an operative paragraph to another operative paragraph of the same resolution, it may sometimes be useful to indicate its position in the text, that is, to state whether it is above or below the paragraph in which the reference is made.
Examples:
... in pursuance of paragraphs 3 and 4 above
... the study referred to in paragraph 6 below
F. Internal references to the resolution as a whole
A reference in a resolution to the text of the same resolution as a whole should be to “the present resolution”, not to “this resolution”, which may be ambiguous.
Example:
The General Assembly
...
2. Also requests the Secretary-General to report to the General Assembly at its ... session on the progress achieved in the implementation of the present resolution.
This practice should also be followed when an internal reference is made to matter annexed to the resolution, such as a convention or statute.
Example:
The General Assembly
Approves the Convention on ..., the text of which is annexed to the present resolution.
G. Use of italics
In resolutions, the following words should be italicized:
(a) The name of the organ at the beginning of the text;
Examples:
The General Assembly,
[Believing...]
The Security Council
[Decides...]
(b) The word or words at the beginning of each paragraph of the preamble expressive of the mood or the action, past or present, of the organ;
Examples:
[The General Assembly,]
Believing ...
Convinced of...
Desirous of...
Expressing confidence ...
Noting with satisfaction ...
Taking note of...
Having examined ...
(c) The operative verb or phrase at the beginning of each paragraph of the operative part.
Examples:
[The General Assembly]
Decides to...
Recommends that...
Expresses its appreciation to...
Requests the Secretary-General to...
Also requests the Secretary-General to...
Expresses the hope that...
Takes note with satisfaction of the...
Calls upon the Governments...
Calls for...
Notes and encourages the…
Note: Only an opening operative verb or phrase is italicized; if a second operative verb or phrase appears in a paragraph, it should not be italicized.
Example:
Expresses the hope that ..., and requests the Secretary-General to report on the question at the ... session.
The use of italics explained above applies to resolutions and draft resolutions only; decisions are normally presented in the form of a paragraph, without italics. For additional information on the use of italics, see Style/Italics and bold print.
H. Punctuation
1. Titles
Though there may be punctuation within the title of a resolution or decision, there should be no final punctuation mark. Within a title, a colon is generally preferred to a dash.
Example:
| 35/219. | Use of Arabic in the subsidiary organs of the General Assembly, in the Security Council and in the Economic and Social Council: amendments to rules 51, 52, 54 and 56 of the rules of procedure of the Assembly |
2. Resolutions
When a resolution has a preamble, there is a comma (without italics) after the name of the organ and a comma after each paragraph or subparagraph of the preamble; if the resolution has no preamble, there is no punctuation mark after the name of the organ.
In the operative part, there is a semicolon after each paragraph or subparagraph and a full stop at the end, which should be the only full stop in the resolution.
When a paragraph, in either the preamble or the operative part, is divided into subparagraphs identified by letters or lower-case roman numerals, a colon is placed after the words that introduce the first subparagraph.
The use of punctuation in the various cases described above is shown in the following examples (see also draft resolution).
Example 1:
The Economic and Social Council,
Bearing in mind paragraph 15 of the terms of reference of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean and rules 1 and 2 of the rules of procedure of the Commission,
Considering the invitation of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico to host the thirtieth session of the Commission,
1. Expresses its gratitude to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico for its generous invitation;
2. Accepts this invitation with pleasure;
3. Approves the holding of the thirtieth session of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean in Puerto Rico during the first half of 2004.
Example 2:
The General Assembly
1. Accepts the financial report ... Board of Auditors;
2. Concurs in the observations ... session.
Example 3:
The General Assembly,
Recalling its resolution 44/23 of 17 November 1989 , by which it declared the period 1990–1999 the United Nations Decade of International Law,
Recalling also that the main purposes of the Decade, according to resolution 44/23, should be, inter alia:
(a) To promote acceptance of and respect for the principles of international law,
(b) To promote means and methods for the peaceful settlement of disputes between States, including resort to and full respect for the International Court of Justice,
…
Example 4:
The General Assembly,
Recalling its resolutions 51/122 of 13 December 1996, 54/68 of 6 December 1999 and 55/122 of 8 December 2000,
1. Endorses the recommendation of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space that the Legal Subcommittee, at its forty-first session, taking into account the concerns of all countries, in particular those of developing countries:
(a) Consider the following as regular agenda items:
(i) General exchange of views;
(ii) Status and application of the five United Nations treaties on outer space;
(iii) Information on the activities of international organizations relating to space
law;
(b) Consider the following single issue items for discussion:
...
2. Invites the Committee to expand the scope of international cooperation...
Example 5:
The General Assembly,
Recalling its resolutions 51/217 of 18 December 1996 and 56/255 of 24 December 2001,
Having considered the report of the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Board,
Endorses the observations and recommendations contained in the report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions.
3. Decisions
Draft decisions should normally be presented in the form of a single paragraph, without italics, References are footnoted in line with standard practice.
Example:
The General Assembly decides to defer consideration of the question of the proposed regulations governing the status, basic rights and duties of officials other than Secretariat officials and experts on mission until its eighty-second session.
If the paragraph has subparagraphs containing action verbs, the introductory phrase is normally followed by a colon. The subparagraphs are labelled using letters, not numbers.
Example:
The General Assembly,
(a) Takes note of...
(b) Decides to...
After adoption, the relevant information is added to the text, for example “At its ...meeting, on ..., the [General Assembly], [on the recommendation of the ... Committee,] ...”. Verb tenses are adjusted and other changes made to conform to reported speech rules. The adopted decision based on the above draft decision would then read:
At its 67th plenary meeting, on 4 December 2002, the General Assembly, on the recommendation of the Fifth Committee:
(a) Took note of...
(b) Decided to...
I. Abbreviations
Names of organs, organizations, offices and the like must be given in full when mentioned in a resolution. Drafters of resolutions should see to it that any names that appear in the text are given in full and in the correct form. However, to avoid excessive repetition, long titles, though they should be given in full the first time they occur in the preamble and the first time in the operative part of a resolution, may thereafter be shortened, provided that no possible ambiguity exists.
Example:
The General Assembly,
Having examined the report of the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples relating to this question,
...
1. Approves the report of the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples relating to this question;
2. Requests the Special Committee to continue to study this question and to report thereon to the General Assembly at its ... session.
It is not necessary to spell out the full name of a body at a subsequent first mention of its presiding officer: “the Chair of the Special Committee” may be used at first mention if the Special Committee has been spelled out in full earlier in the same part (preamble or operative part) of the resolution. As an exception, the President of the General Assembly is usually referred to as such at first mention, even if the Assembly has been mentioned earlier in the same paragraph; thereafter: “the President” or, if needed to distinguish from another president, “the President of the Assembly”.
In resolutions containing sections (identified either by numbers [I, II, III] or by headings), the full form should generally appear a maximum of twice: once at first mention in a preamble to any of the sections and once at first mention in an operative part of any of the sections – see, for example, references to the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions in resolution 80/243. When the subject matter of sections varies widely (especially in longer resolutions), repeating the long form may help with clarity.
A and B resolutions are separate resolutions – each beginning with The General Assembly, – and not sections.
Care should be taken in the abbreviation of names of United Nations organs. The Security Council and the Economic and Social Council, for example, should be referred to as “the Council” only if it has already been made clear which Council is meant. References to the General Assembly as "the Assembly” should be made only to avoid excessive repetition of the full name and not when another Assembly, for example the World Health Assembly, is mentioned in the same paragraph. Generally speaking, the short form is used whenever the name occurs more than once in the same paragraph.
When a request is made for a report to the organ adopting the resolution, a short or long form of the organ’s name should be used rather than “it”.
Example:
Invites the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly [not: to submit to it] at its eighty-first session a report on the implementation of the present resolution.
Abbreviations, including acronyms are not normally used in resolutions. For additional information, see Style/Abbreviations.
Wherever possible, references to Secretariat (or Mission) offices, divisions, units, etc., should be consistent within a given text.
No quotation marks are used for short forms, for example: the Bangkok Rules, the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation.
The full title of “the Charter of the United Nations” should be used the first time it occurs in the preamble and the first time in the operative part. Thereafter, “the Charter” may be used, unless there is a possibility that it may be taken to mean some other Charter – for example, the Charter of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The expression “United Nations Charter” must not be used.
J. References to other resolutions and decisions
Whenever reference is made, within a resolution or decision, to an earlier resolution or decision or to a resolution or decision of another organ, the date of adoption of the resolution or decision should be given the first time it is mentioned, whether in the preamble or the operative part. It is not necessary to repeat the date thereafter, even in long lists of resolutions that contain a previously cited resolution.
The correct forms are shown below.
Example:
The General Assembly,
Recalling its resolutions 55/212 of 20 December 2000 and 56/209 of 21 December 2001 ...
Recalling also its resolution 56/210 B of 9 July 2002 ...
...
1. Renews its request to the Secretary‑General that, in pursuance of General Assembly resolution 56/210 B, he should...
However, if the date of adoption is not readily available or clearly indicated in the report or other background documentation, no date should be added.
In documents other than resolutions and decisions, there is normally no need to add the date of a resolution mentioned.
In particular, dates should never be inserted in the titles of Security Council committees established pursuant to a specified resolution. The titles of those committees are to be found in the notes by the President concerning the Bureaux (most recently S/2025/2/Rev.6).
Short forms such as “the 1540 Committee” are not generally used.
Historically, “by which” was used when what followed was the main focus of the resolution referred to or represented a major decision; “in which” was used when what followed was a request for action or an expression of emotion that was not the only purpose of the resolution.
Examples:
Recalling its resolution 2205 (XXI) of 17 December 1966, by which it established the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law,
Recalling its resolution 57/140 of 11 December 2002, in which it reiterated …
In current practice, no real distinction is made; both phrases may be used interchangeably.
.
K. Wording of resolutions
Special care must be taken, in drafting and editing resolutions, to ensure accuracy in terminology, particularly in the designation of persons, offices, bodies, organizations, titles of legal instruments, and the like.
Titles or names and elements of text that recur in the preamble and in the operative part must agree.
Named [political] declarations are upper-cased; otherwise, lower case is used, especially in descriptive contexts.
Examples:
the Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS: Intensifying Our Efforts to Eliminate HIV and AIDS
the Mexico City Political Declaration on Universal Health Coverage
the political declaration of the high-level meeting of the General Assembly on the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases
To avoid repetition, the title of a report is omitted when it is the same as the title of the resolution; it is referred to as, for example, “the report of the Secretary-General” or “the report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees”. If the resolution title varies even slightly, the report title is given in full.
References to the seasons of the year (spring, summer, autumn, winter) should be avoided unless accompanied by the geographical location. A conference to be convened “in the spring of 2027” would be held at different times of the year depending on the hemisphere, whereas a conference to be convened “in the spring of 2027 in New York ” is unambiguous. In the first case, it would be preferable to write “early in 2027”.
A session of the General Assembly should always be referred to by its number, for example, “the fifty-seventh session”, not “the current session” or “the next session”. A session of a body that does not have numbered sessions should be identified by the time of the session, for example, “at its session to be held in 2023”, or “at its most recent session, held in 2026”.
If reference is made in a draft resolution to a statement, specific identification of the statement should be given, including, as applicable, the name and/or title of the speaker, the meeting number (if any), the date of the statement, the document number (if any) and the occasion on which the statement was delivered.
Wording such as “15–16 June” or “12–16 June” should be avoided. Instead, “15 and 16 June”’ and “from 12 to 16 June” or, if necessary, “from 12 to 16 June, inclusive” should be used.
Meetings are held “in” rather than “at” a place name, except in the phrase “done at” and in some long-standing references. Meetings are also held “at” Headquarters.
“Designate” and “proclaim” may be followed by “as” or not, depending on the grammar of the phrase; the same applies to: appoint, choose, deem, elect, judge.
The preferred construction is “all action necessary to”, rather than “all necessary action to”.
In paragraphs listing various earlier resolutions, it is acceptable to use “resolutions” followed by the individual numbers or to repeat “resolution” before each resolution number.
In the context of a Conference of the Parties, a Meeting, a Congress and similar, the constructions “adopted by” and “adopted at” are both acceptable.
If an agenda sub-item is indicated, then the item must be mentioned as well.
In the phrase “under the [aegis] [auspices] of the United Nations”, both terms are correct.
Both “Expressing [concern] [appreciation] [etc.]” and “Expressing its [concern] [appreciation] [etc.]” are correct and need not be changed, even if there is variation within a given resolution.
Both “as set forth in paragraph XX above [or below]” and “as set forth in paragraph XX of the present resolution” are correct.
The phrase “including but not limited to” does not require commas.
It may be preferable to replace “Decides to [adopt] [authorize]” and similar procedural-type verbs directly with the substantive verb (“Adopts….”, “Authorizes...”, etc.).
The phrase “including, inter alia, …” is redundant and should generally not be used.
When two or more consecutive paragraphs begin with the same preambular/operative verb, “also” is added in the second and “further” in the third paragraph; the additional word should be italicized. If the same verb is used a fourth time, the sequence begins again.
Examples :
Recalling its resolution 57/135 of 11 December 2003,
Recalling also Security Council resolution 658 (1990) of 27 June 1990…
Recalling further Security Council resolution 1359 (2001) of 29 June 2001…
Recalling Security Council resolution 1754 (2007) of 30 April 2007,
However, when the paragraphs contain a form of request or appeal, “also” and “further” should be added only if the request or appeal is directed to the same entity.
Example:
1. Requests the Statistical Commission to continue its efforts...
2. Requests the Secretary-General to facilitate…
3. Also requests the Secretary-General to take into consideration…
4. Further requests the Secretary-General to submit a report…
“Also” or “further” should not be used to introduce a repeated verb in paragraphs that are separated by a section heading or other form of break.
The general rule that numbers under 10 should be written out and numbers from 10 on expressed in numerals also applies to resolutions.As an exception, numbers are spelled out in titles of decisions and resolutions (and in text that will become the title of a decision or resolution), for example, resolution 60/16, entitled “Eight hundred years of Mongolian statehood”. However, agenda items on elections no longer include the number of members to be elected, for example, decision 80/402, entitled “Election of members of the Human Rights Council”.
Reports should not be spoken of as being submitted to a session of an organ but rather as being submitted to an organ at its session.
Example:
...requests the Committee to continue to study this question and to report thereon to the General Assembly at its thirty-seventh session.
(not to the thirty-seventh session of the General Assembly)
The term “resumed session” is usually seen only in the context of the March and May segments of the Fifth Committee, which are often referred to as the [first] [second] part of the resumed [xxx] session of the General Assembly (not “session of the Fifth Committee”), although the Sixth Committee has also held resumed sessions.
In the light of General Assembly resolutions 58/314, 67/19 and ES-10/23 on the status of the Holy See and the State of Palestine, the word “Member” should not be automatically inserted before “State”.
The expression "[States] Members of the United Nations and of the specialized agencies" should not be used. The correct forms are, according to the construction of the sentence, "[States] Members of the United Nations and members of the specialized agencies", "[States] Members of the United Nations or members of specialized agencies" or "a [State] Member of the United Nations or member of a specialized agency". The term "Member States" may be used when it is clear that the reference is to Members of the United Nations.
The expression "Member Governments" should not be used. The following phrases may be used, as appropriate: "Governments of States Members of the United Nations or members of specialized agencies", "Governments of Member States", or simply "Member States".
L. Footnotes
Repeat footnote indicators are not used. Items are footnoted only once: at first mention, whether in the preamble or in the operative part. If it is necessary to repeat a reference for clarity, a new footnote should be inserted in the text.
Where an instrument is mentioned in full in the preambular part of a resolution, i.e. with the relevant adoption information, no footnote is needed in that part. However, a footnote is needed in the operative part of the resolution.
Example (General Assembly resolution 71/213):
The General Assembly,
…
Reaffirming its resolution 70/1 of 25 September 2015, entitled “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, in which it adopted a comprehensive, far-reaching and people-centred set of universal and transformative Sustainable Development Goals and targets …
1. Welcomes the inclusion in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development3 of, inter alia, …
_____________________
3 Resolution 70/1.
Footnotes in annexes continue the numbering sequence from the body of the resolution. If the text of a footnote in an annex is the same as that of a note in the body of the resolution, the annex footnote follows the sequential numbering and the text is repeated.
In certain cases, the addition of footnotes in line with standard practice may not be permitted for instruments such as guidelines, covenants, conventions and political declarations annexed to a draft resolution.
“See” should be used to refer to a text that is part of the document cited in the footnote.
Example 1:
the oral report of the Chair of the Working Group
Footnote: See A/C.6/80/SR.37.
This is the summary record of the proceedings of the 37th meeting, including the oral report.
Example 2:
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
Footnote: See [General Assembly] resolution 2200 A (XXI), annex.
The annex to the resolution contains the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
“General Assembly” is omitted in references to resolutions in documents of the General Assembly, “Economic and Social Council” in references to resolutions in documents of the Economic and Social Council, and so on.
Example 3:
Human Rights Council resolution 53/9 of 12 July 2023
Footnote: See Official Records of the General Assembly, Seventy-eighth Session, Supplement No. 53 (A/78/53), chap. VII, sect. A.
Chapter VII, section A, contains all the resolutions adopted by the Council at its fifty-third session.
“See” should not be used to refer to a text that comprises essentially the entire substance of the operative part of a resolution (especially when the title of the resolution is identical, or nearly identical, to the text being cited).
Example 1:
United Nations Millennium Declaration
Footnote: [General Assembly] resolution 55/2.
Example 2:
outcome document of the high-level meeting of the General Assembly on the overall review of the implementation of the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society
Footnote: [General Assembly] resolution 80/173.
Generally, “see” should not be used if the footnote includes a paragraph number.
However, “see” should be used if the paragraph is particularly lengthy or complex, for example: See E/CN.4/2004/15, para. 47.
Paragraph 47 goes on for over a page and includes several proposed amendments to an existing instrument.
“See” should also be used in a reference to a document transmitted via, not attached or annexed to, the document cited in the footnote, for example:
report of the Joint Inspection Unit entitled “Review of audit and oversight committees in the United Nations system”
Footnote: See A/74/670.
Where the text in question is transmitted in the document cited in the footnote, the use of “see” is determined by whether the title of that document is identical, or nearly identical, to the text being referenced.
Example 1:
report of the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children
Footnote: A/80/166.
The report of the Special Rapporteur is transmitted in the note by the Secretary-General entitled “Trafficking in persons, especially women and children”.
Example 2:
report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
Footnote: See A/67/227.
The report of the Special Rapporteur is transmitted in the note by the Secretary-General entitled “Advancement of women”.
M. References to the Secretary-General or to the Secretariat
When reference is made to the Secretary-General or to the Secretariat, it is not normally necessary to add the words "of the United Nations".
An exception would be made in a text in which there was a reference to the secretary-general or to the secretariat of some other organization.
N. References to money
References to sums of money should be given in figures with the type and unit of currency expressed in words. The type of currency must be made clear at the first mention; thereafter, the unit alone may be used. Where the sums mentioned are in millions or billions and can be conveniently expressed in decimal form to not more than one decimal point, the word "million" or "billion" is spelled out.
Example:
The General Assembly
Notes that ...a development fund of 5.2 million United States dollars…
Decides in principle to contribute 2 million dollars to the Development Fund...
O. Names of newly established bodies
Whenever a body is established by a resolution, the name used to designate it should be the official name and not a provisional or descriptive name subject to later change.
Example:
The General Assembly,
...
Approves the idea of establishing a University for Peace as an international centre of higher learning for postgraduate studies ...aimed at training for peace...
P. Annexed matter
If the organ adopting a resolution is thereby adopting or approving a text other than the resolution itself, that text should, where appropriate, be annexed to the resolution, not inserted in it.
Matter annexed to a resolution may be referred to in the text of the resolution in various ways. Examples of acceptable wording are given below.
Examples:
The General Assembly
Commends the Agreement on ..., the text of which is annexed to the present resolution.
* * *
The General Assembly,
...
3. Adopts the provisional regulations ... set out in annex II to the present resolution.
* * *
The General Assembly
Approves the annexed Convention on the...
Matter annexed to a resolution immediately follows the text of the resolution. It is headed by the word "Annex" and usually has a title also.
If there are two or more annexes to a resolution, they should be identified by roman numerals, so that the headings would read "Annex I", "Annex II" and so on.