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UN General Assembly Documentation

Meeting Records, in general

Statements made during UN meetings may be issued as documents called meeting records. There are two types of meeting records:

Verbatim record

  • full, first-person account of the meeting
  • symbol includes PV.--

Verbatim Record (S/PV.6826, 30 August 2012)

Verbatim Record (S/PV.6826, 30 August 2012)

Summary record

  • third-person condensed version of the meeting
  • symbol includes SR.--

Summary Record (A/C.4/66/SR.10, 8 Feb. 2012)

Summary record A/C.4/66/Sr.10

Meeting records are not issued for all UN meetings. Principal organs and selected subsidiaries may have either verbatim or summary records, but not both.

If a body is not entitled to meeting record coverage, information about the meetings may be found in:

  • press releases, if issued, and
  • sessional or annual reports.

Press releases are available online. 

The Index to Speeches, both online and in print, provides citation to speeches and full text links when available, for:

  • General Assembly beginning with its 38th session (1983)
  • Security Council beginning with its 19th year (1964) 
  • Economic and Social Council beginning in 1946 (ECOSOC speech index completed in 2022)
  • Trusteeship Council beginning with its 15th special session (1982)

Meeting Records of the Plenary

1946-1975

From the 1st session (1946) through the 30th session (1975), all General Assembly meeting records were consecutively numbered. 

  • Symbol pattern: A/PV.-
A/PV.183 183rd meeting  3rd  regular session  10 Dec. 1948  adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human RightsA/RES/217 (III) 
A/PV.562 562nd meeting 1st emergency special session 1 Nov. 1956 adoption of resolution 997, A/RES/997 (ES-I)
A/PV.2229 2229th meeting  6th special session 1 May 1974 adoption of the Declaration on the Establishment of a New International Economic Order, A/RES/3201 (S-VI)

1976-now

Since the 31st session (1976), the session information has been included in the symbol of meeting records.

  • Symbol pattern: A/session/PV.-
A/60/PV.8 8th meeting 60th regular session 16 Sept. 2005 adoption of the 2005 World Summit Outcome, A/RES/60/1
A/ES-8/PV.12 12th meeting 8th emergency special session 14 Sept. 1981 adoption of resolution on the Question of Namibia, A/RES/ES-8/2
A/S-23/PV.10 + A/S-23/PV.10(Resumption 1) 10th meeting 23rd special session 10 June 2000 adoption of the Political Declaration (on Women), A/RES/S-23/2

Plenary meeting records, in general

Meeting records are usually published weeks or months after the meeting. For information about recent meetings, check the Press Releases for General Assembly meeting coverage.

Official voting information can be retrieved from the record of the meeting at which the vote was taken.

Meeting Records of Main Committees

The Main Committees of the General Assembly are all entitled to meeting record coverage.

From the 1st session (1946) through the 30th session (1975), all General Assembly meeting records were consecutively numbered. 

Official voting information can be retrieved from the record of the meeting at which the vote was taken. There may be recorded votes in committee meetings, even if the final resolution is adopted without vote in the plenary.

First Committee

  • Verbatim records, starting with the 22nd session, with the exception of the 48th session
  • Press release series symbol

Second Committee

Third Committee

Fourth Committee

  • Summary records
  • Press release series symbol
  • Prior to the 48th session, the Special Political Committee, handled political questions:
    • Symbol pattern: A/SPC/-
    • Press release series symbol: GA/SPC/-

Fifth Committee

  • Summary records
  • Press release series symbol 

Sixth Committee

  • Summary records
  • Press release series symbol