UN Economic and Social Council Documentation

The General Assembly, Security Council and Economic and Social Council all have official records. Some conferences may also have official records.

The Regulations for the Control and Limitation of Documentation, ST/AI/189/Add.3/Rev.2, define official records:

The Official Records are a series of printed publications relating to the proceedings of the principal organs of the United Nations or certain United Nations conferences; they include verbatim or summary records of the meetings of the organ concerned, annexes and supplements.

In general, official records currently consist of meeting records and supplements, including the resolutions and decisions of the organ.

Reports and other selected documents were issued as annexes or supplements to the official records. 

Prior to the online availability of UN documents, the Official Records were often the only source available to scholars for UN documentation research. They are widely cited in both UN and non-UN publications.

Official Records were distributed to UN Depository Libraries and may have been collected by other libraries and research institutions.

The Economic and Social Council Official Records (ESCOR) consist of:

• meeting records of plenary meetings
• supplements, including
• reports of subsidiary bodies
• resolutions and decisions of the Economic and Social Council
• annexes
• selected documents organized by agenda item
• last issued for 55th session (1973)

The resolutions and decisions of the Economic and Social Council are:

• Compiled annually;
• Provisionally issued for each session during the course of the year:
  • Symbol pattern: E/year/INF/-
  • Example: E/2016/INF/2
• Finally issued as Supplement 1 to the Economic and Social Council Official Records (ESCOR) for the year;
  • Symbol pattern: E/year/99
  • Example: E/2015/99