Skip to Main Content

United Nations Research Guide

Guide to information created by the UN and the UN Family of Organizations. Grateful acknowledgement to Jim Church, University of California Berkeley Libraries, whose work is the basis for this guide.

United Nations System (Visual Overview)

Updated to reflect recent organizational changes, click on the image to see larger English language display.  Also available in Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish.

The United Nations System: Descriptive Overview

The United Nations system of organizations is comprised of main organs, specialized agencies, programmes and funds, research and training institutes, and a variety of affiated and related bodies.  The United Nations Handbook describes the structure and function of these bodies.  The tabs provide a guide to this structure.  Learn more about UN Documentation.

Principal Organs

General Assembly. Main deliberative organ of the United Nations composed of representatives of all member states, each of which has one vote.

Index to Proceedings of the General Assembly  

The General Assembly has six main committees:

The General Assembly also has various other commissions, committees and subsidiary bodies. Some are treaty based, some established by General Assembly resolutions.

See the General Assembly's page on its subsidiary organs for more information.

Economic and Social Council. Principal United Nations body dealing with economic, social, cultural and health matters.

Index to Proceedings of the Economic and Social Council

Composed of eight functional commissions (see below) and five Regional Commissions, as well as forums, expert bodies, and standing committees. See in particular the NGO Section.

International Court of Justice. Principal judicial organ of the United Nations. Adjudicates legal disputes submitted to it by States and provides opinions on legal questions referred to it by international agencies.

Secretariat. Agency which carries out the day-to-day work of the organization, servicing other principal organs of the United Nations and administering programmes laid down by them. At its head is the Secretary-General.

Security Council. UN agency with responsibility for maintenance of international peace and security. The Council has 15 members-- five permanent and 10 elected by the General Assembly for two-year terms.

Index to Proceedings of the Security Council

Trusteeship Council. Principal organ of the United Nations assigned to the administration of territories under the UN Trusteeship system. Suspended operation in 1994, with the independence of Palau, the last remaining UN trust territory.

Index to the Proceedings of the Trusteeship Council (1947-1994)

The UN Regional Economic Commissions are responsible for coordinating economic and social activities in their respective regions. They report to the Economic & Social Council but operate with a great deal of autonomy.

United Nations Specialized Agencies are autonomous organizations joined to the United Nations via special agreements stipulated in the UN Charter. There are currently fifteen specialized agencies of the United Nations.

United Nations Programmes and Funds are international development organizations reporting to the General Assembly and/or the Economic and Social Council. For more information see the UN In Brief.

United Nations Research & Training Institutes are international bodies engaged in public policy research, capacity building, training, and technical assistance.

The following is a list of selected United Nations joint programmes (cooperative programs between one or more UN agencies) miscellaneous offices, and affiliated organizations. Learn more about UN Documentation created by the UN System.

 

Learn About UN Documentation

The Dag Hammersjold Library at the UN Headquarters in NY provides training events & materials to ensure researchers can make effective use of UN documentation. 

  • Video lecture (43 minutes) delivered by Susan Goard, Legal Librarian and Training Coordinator, providing overview of UN organization, documentation, document symbols, and databases and tools provided by the UN for finding documents.
  • The Dag Hammarskjöld Library has created a series of research guides by subject that highlight key materials and provide links to UN Documentation, Policy & Guidance, Treaties (where appropriate), Books & Articles, Statistics, Web Sites, an FAQ, and more.
  • There are also research guides that focus on the documentation of specific UN bodies, including the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council, the International Court of Justice, and the Secretariat. 
  • Some guides are provided in all six official languages of the UN.