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UN Document Symbols & Series Symbols

Resolutions of the Security Council

Resolutions of the Security Council are first published as individual documents consecutively numbered since 1946.

All Security Council resolutions are included in the annual compilations of Resolutions and Decisions.

Adopted resolutions are usually voted on in open formal meetings of the Security Council. The vote is recorded in the meeting record.

An exception is the resolution recommending a candidate for Secretary-General to the General Assembly, which is adopted in a closed meeting with no recorded vote, in accordance with General Assembly resolution A/RES/11 (I) of 1946. 

Additional sources for Security Council research

Historical Note on Numbering of Security Council Resolutions

From 1946-1964 Security Council resolutions were issued as S/-- documents. 

In 1965, resolution numbers were assigned to all previously adopted resolutions, starting with S/RES/1 (1946) and finishing with S/RES/199 (1964). References to Security Council resolutions, 1946-1964, may cite the original document symbol or the S/RES/- symbol. 

Revised annual compilations were issued for the years 1946-1964, in the S/INF/- series.

According to the Note at the front of the volumes of the revised annual compilations:

"The resolutions are numbered in the order of their adoption. The document symbol which appears in square brackets under the title of the resolution is the symbol that was used to identify the text before the adoption, in 1964, of the system of numbering used in the present volume, which has been applied retroactively to the resolutions adopted earlier by the Council."

The "Consolidated check list of resolutions of the Security Council, 1946-1964" (S/INF/19/Rev.1/Add.1) lists all retrospectively assigned resolution numbers and the original document symbol of the resolution.

Screenshot of A/INF/19/Rev.1/Add.1 showing a table with the resolution number, date, original symbol and subject of the resolutions.

Note: S/INF/4/Rev.1 and S/INF/5/Rev.1 are identical documents (except the symbol). The original S/INF/5 was not part of the annual compilation series.