ILS Web Sites: United Nations

Directories

• Official Web Site Locator for the UN (from the UN): Good way to locate other UN organizations and home pages.
• Websites in the UN System (from the UN): Geographical representation of UN system entities and the websites.

Research Tools

• AccessUN (from Readex) [Harvard only]  Index of current and retrospective United Nations documents and publications.   ILS provides a guide called Using AccessUN.
• UNBISplus (from the Dag Hammerskjold Library): Database of references to documents from 1979, an index of speeches from 1983 and voting records for the General Assembly from the 38th session and the Security Council from 1946.
• Optical Disk System (from the United Nations) : Includes full-text of documents produced in New York and Geneva since 1991.  Updated daily.
• UN-I-QUE United Nations Info Quest (from the Dag Hammerskjold Library): Bibliographic database for locating annual reports (e.g. all the periodic reports of the USA to CEDAW).
• RLG (from Research Libraries Group) [Harvard only]: The Dag Hammerskjold Library creates records for many UN documents which can be found on this bibliographic system.
• United Nations System Pathfinder (from the Dag Hammerskjold Library): Guide to important documents by subject area.
• United Nations Official Website Locator.
• UN System Libraries : Access to UN System libraries.

UN Entities: Document Collections

• United Nations Yearbook Collection (1946-2005) . Since 1946, the United Nations (UN) has produced an annual work known as the Yearbook. This volume serves as the principal reference work on the Untied Nations and their various activities. Recently, the UN digitized the Yearbooks from 1946 to 2005. This is the best source to begin historical research. Each section cites only the most relevant U.N. documents so it helps you eliminate many unimportant or redundant documents at the beginning. Visitors to the homepage can use the drop down menu offered here to look through any of the volumes that interest them. Within each volume, visitors can read through chapters, which usually include sections on political and security matters, economic and social questions, and a host of legal questions. For those persons looking for specific topics, each volume can be searched individually, or users may also wish to use the "Power Search" feature to refine their search even further. Finally, a "Share" feature allows users to share their findings via Google, Digg, Facebook, and other popular social networking sites.
• Resolutions and other documents (from the UN): From the main UN page includes resolutions from the major UN organs like the General Assembly and the Security Council.
• United Nations Treaty Series (from the UN Treaty Office) [Harvard only]: Searchable full-text database of UN treaties.  Also includes the updating tool Multilateral Treaties Deposited with the Secretary-General.
• International Law Commission (from the ILC): Includes reports and other documentation.Look under the Researching the work of the commission tab.
• United Nations Documentation in Economic, Social and Related Fields (from the Department of Economic and Social Affairs)
• Treaty Bodies Database and Charter Bodies Database (from the United Nations High Commissioners for Human Rights): Contains reports from governments about compliance with UN Human Rights treaties and reports by UN bodies about governments.
• RefWorld (from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees): Includes UNHCR and UN documents on refugee issues.
• UNCITRAL Documents (from the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law):  Includes the documents of UNCITRAL and its various working groups.
• Digital Library of UNCTAD Publications (from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) .
• UNEP Documents (from the United Nations Environmental Program): Includes links to the Secretariats of many of the major multilateral environmental treaties which tend to include documents.
• UNDCCP Documents (from the United Nations Office of Drug Control and Crime Prevention): Sales publications and non-sales publications.
• World Crime Survey Data (from the United Nations Crime and Justice Information Network): World crime statistics, available in several different formats.
• Peace-Keeping Special Reports (from the UN Department of Public Information)
• WomenWatch (from WomenWatch): Includes reports from the Beijing Conference and reports from various countries on women's issues.

UN System Entities: Document Collections

• Labordoc (from the International Labour Organization): Documents and publications of the ILO , also it provides links to online pulications available on the internet.
• ILOLEX (from the International Labour Organization): Includes conventions and related status information and other documents.
• FAO Document Repository (from the Food and Agriculture Organization): Includes free text searching as well as searching by title, author and subject.
• United Nations Documentation:Research Guide: This research guide presents an overview of the various types of documents and publications issued by the Organization such as  reports, resolutions, meeting records, sales publications, press releases and gives guidance on how to work with them.

Other Entities: Document Collections

• WWW Virtual Library: United Nations:  Links to UN organs' sites.
• Fourth World Documentation Project: UN documents in the FWDP archives.

News

• UN Latest Press Releases (from the UN News Centre): includes press releases, press briefings, speeches and other current information.
• UN Pulse Alerts you to selected just-released UN online information, major reports, publications and documents.

Research Guides

• United Nations Documentation: Research Guide. Excellent guide to UN document symbols and UN research. Includes 'special topic' bibliographies on human rights, international law, and peacekeeping operations.
• How to Find UN Documents (from Harvard Law School): Focuses mostly on print documents.  ILS also has another guide called the United Nations Document Symbols System.
• ASIL Guide to Electronic Resources for International Law: United Nations (from ASIL): Focuses only on websites.   Provides good explanations of various important websites.