Dag Hammarskjöld Library at Uppsala University
Iraq War
- © United Nations
The development of the situation in Iraq has been a matter of concern to the United Nations for a long time. After the Kuwait war in 1991, the Security Council decided to establish an inspection regime
to search for weapons of mass destruction, including biological and chemical weapons, and to destroy any that were found. When Iraq refused to adhere to this, the Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 1441 (2002), which represented Iraq's final opportunity to comply with the disarmament requirement in accordance with previous resolutions. Force was not authorized by the resolution, but it recalls that the Council had repeatedly warned Iraq that it would face "serious consequences" as a result of continued violations.
The Iraq War was not sanctioned by the United Nations. Thus, the Coalition invasion began, on 20th March 2002 without the approval of the Security Council.
Security Council resolution 1546 endorsed the formation of an interim government and the holding of democratic elections In Iraq. It determined the status of the multinational force and its relationship with the Iraqi Government, as well as the role of the United Nations in the political transition.
Documentation
Background information and news, full text documents and reports are posted at the UN official web site, section News Focus: Iraq.
A list of all UN bodies involved in the reconstrution of Iraq is posted at the UN official web site, section News Focus: Iraq, Reconstruction and Development.
Information about the weapons inspections in Iraq with full text reports can be accessed from the section UNMOVIC - United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission at the UN official web site.
Yearbook of the United Nations, Part One: Political and Security Questions provides an overview of the United Nations and the question of Iraq with a detailed subject index. A complete collection of yearbooks is held by the Dag Hammarskjöld Library, Uppsala, and the Libraries at UN Headquarters in New York and Geneva. Since October 2008 the complete full text collection of The United Nations Yearbooks is available online at http://unyearbook.un.org/.
Databases and Indexes
The UN Library online catalogue UNBISnet contains reports, documents and articles related to UN activities with links to full texts for recent years. Subject search can be performed using relevant terms from the UNBIS THESAURUS.
A list of Security Council resolutions concerning Iraq with links to full texts can be retrieved from UNBISNET Keyword search indexes: Subject Iraq UN Doc. Symbol S/RES.
Full text documents from 1993 onwards are stored in the United Nations Official Document System - ODS.
Printed Indexes