Research Guides: Government Information: United Nations

How the United Nations is Organized

There are currently five main organs of the United Nations:

General Assembly: main deliberative, policymaking organ with representatives from 193 Member States.
Security Council: responsible for the maintenance of international peace and security. It has 15 Members (5 permanent and 10 non-permanent members).
Economic and Social Council: reviews policy and renders recommendations on economic, social and environmental issues, as well as implementation of internationally agreed development goals.
International Court of Justice: settles, in accordance with international law, legal disputes submitted to it by States and to give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by authorized United Nations organs and specialized agencies.
Secretariat: the office of the Secretary-General and tens of thousands of international UN staff members who carry out the day-to-day work of the UN. The current Secretary General is Ban Ki-moon of Republic of Korea.

from the official site of the United Nations

United Nations Official Document System
UN ODS has full-text, born-digital UN documents published from 1993 onward, including documents of the Security Council, the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council and their subsidiaries, as well as administrative issuances and other documents.
United Nations General Assembly Resolutions (1946 - )
Resolutions and Decisions adopted by the General Assembly from the 1st session in 1946 to present.
United Nations Directory
Alphabetic list of UN entities and organizations. You can resort to list by topic.
United Nations Photo Gallery
Thousands of photos of UN personnel as well as photographs from UN work in action.
United Nations Development Programme UNDP
UNDP works in some 170 countries and territories, helping to achieve the eradication of poverty, and the reduction of inequalities and exclusion.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees
The agency is mandated to lead and co-ordinate international action to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems worldwide. Its primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees.
United Nations Law Collection (Hein Online)
Major United Nations legal publications, including the complete collection of the United Nations Treaty Series, the League of Nations Treaty Series, the Monthly Statement of Treaties & International Agreements, UNCITRAL Publications, UNIDIR Publications, the United Nations Legislative Series and much more. UNet Login and Passcode required.

Dag Hammarskjöld Library Research Guide
Sources organized by subject by the librarians at the Dag Hammarskjöld Library at the UN.
UNTerm
Provides terminology and nomenclature in subjects relevant to the work of the United Nations. Information is provided in the six UN official languages, and there are also entries in German and Portuguese.