Dag Hammarskjöld Library at Uppsala University
General Assembly
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The General Assembly is the only organ to which the Charter assigns the task of developing international law. Supported by its subsidiary organs and special committees, it initiates studies and makes recommendations, prepares draft conventions and convenes international conferences with the task of discussing finalizing and adopting multilateral treaties. After their adaption, the conventions can be accepted by individual states by way of signing and ratifying.
The General Assembly also adopts declarations and resolutions. Although not legally binding, they are statements of principle and a common standard of achievement with a strong moral and political value.
The Legal Committee - Sixth Committee
The Sixth Committee is one of the main committees of the General Assembly. Entrusted with the consideration of legal matters, it submits reports to the General Assembly on items allocated to it and transmits draft resolutions for adoption in plenary sessions.
For more information on the General Assembly, see DagDok: UN Structure, General Assembly.
Documentation
General Assembly resolutions are published in different versions. The official text is published after each session as the last number in the series Supplements to the Official Records of the General Assembly. The complete series of supplements can be found in the UN Collection of the Dag Hammarskjöld Library, Uppsala and in the Libraries of the UN Headquarters in New York and Geneva.
The full text of General Assembly resolutions from the 1st session (1946) onwards is retrievable through the Official Home Page of the UN, under the section Documents.
Texts of resolutions and/or decisions of committees, commissions and other subsidiary bodies are included in their annual/sessional reports to the parent body included in the series Supplements to the Official Records of the General Assembly.
For more information on the documentation of the General Assembly: see DagDok: UN Structure General Assembly.
Sixth Committee documents are identified as A/C.6.
An overview of the agenda items allocated to the Sixth Committee from 1997 onwards can be accessed from the UN official web site, section General Assembly. Sixth Committee Agenda.
Summary records of meetings from the Sixth Committee are issued as A/C.6/session number/SR.meeting number. A complete collection of meeting records can be found in the UN Collection of the Dag Hammarskjöld Library, Uppsala and in the Libraries of the UN Headquarters in New York and Geneva.
The Sixth Committee submits a separate report to the General Assembly on every agenda item allocated to it.
The original symbol of the Sixth Committee then disappears, and the document is transformed into a session document
of the General Assembly. These documents are published online for recent years at the UN official web site, section Documents. General Assembly. Sessions.
Resolutions drafted by the Sixth Committee can be retrieved from the General Assembly. Official Records. Supplement VII. Resolutions adopted of the reports of the Sixth Committee. The complete series of supplements can be found in the UN Collection of the Dag Hammarskjöld Library, Uppsala and in the Libraries of the UN Headquarters in New York and Geneva.
The list of General Assembly resolutions posted at the UN official web site, contains information on the respective drafting Committee.
Press releases from the Sixth Committee carry the symbol: GA/L- . They can be retrieved from the United Nations Press Releases.
Databases and Indexes
The United Nations Official Document System - ODS - includes the official records version of resolutions of the General Assembly.
Documents and reports from the General Assembly and the Sixth Committee can be retrieved from UNBISnet - the online catalogue of the UN libraries in New York and Geneva with links to full texts for recent years.
Printed indexes