UN Document Symbols & Series Symbols

While the Trusteeship Council was active (1947-1994), three main types of documents were produced in accordance with Article 87 of the UN Charter:

• Petitions from individuals and groups from a territory
• Reports of Member States with administrative power of a trusteeship territory
• Reports of visiting missions of the Trusteeship Council to a territory

In addition, the other types of documents included:

• Annual reports to the General Assembly and the Security Council
  • To the Security Council on the Strategic Territory of the Pacific Islands
  • To the General Assembly on all other trust territories
• Meeting records
  • Meeting records are issued as individual documents as T/PV.--
  • From the second session, meetings records issued in the Official Records (TCOR) were summary records
• Resolutions
  • Symbol pattern: T/RES/--
  • Issued in annual compilations
• Documents of subsidiary bodies on petitions of the Trusteeship Council issued under the following series symbols:
  • T/AC.4/-- (1947)
  • T/AC.5/-- (2nd session, 1947-1948)
  • T/AC.20/-- (6th session, 1950)
  • T/AC.24/-- (7th session, 1950)
  • T/AC.34/-- (8th session, 1951)
  • T/AC.41/-- (9th session, 1951)
  • T/C.2/-- (1952-1961)

Communications to the Trusteeship Council were issued with the symbol element COM. Related documents included PET (petitions) and OBS (observations). 

The numbers in the symbols were consistent for the territory, for example, documents with the series symbols T/PET.2/ -- T/OBS.2/-- and T/COM.2/ all concern the Trust Territory of Tanganyika. 

• T/COM.1/-- : Western Samoa
• T/COM.2/-- Tanganyika
• T/COM.3/-- Ruanda-Urundi
• T/COM.4/-- Cameroons under British administration
• T/COM.5/--Cameroons under French administration
• T/COM.6/-- Togoland under British administration
• T/COM.7/-- Togoland under French administration
• T/COM.8/-- New Guinea
• T/COM.9/-- Nauru
• T/COM.10/-- Strategic Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands
• T/COM.11/--  Italian Somaliland

Observations on petitions to the Trusteeship Council were issued with the symbol element OBS. Related documents included PET (petitions) and COM (communications). 

The numbers in the symbols were consistent for the territory, for example, documents with the series symbols T/PET.2/ -- T/OBS.2/-- and T/COM.2/ all concern the Trust Territory of Tanganyika. 

• T/OBS.1/-- : Western Samoa
• T/OBS.2/-- Tanganyika
• T/OBS.3/-- Ruanda-Urundi
• T/OBS.4/-- Cameroons under British administration
• T/OBS.5/--Cameroons under French administration
• T/OBS.6/-- Togoland under British administration
• T/OBS.7/-- Togoland under French administration
• T/OBS.8/-- New Guinea
• T/OBS.9/-- Nauru
• T/OBS.10/-- Strategic Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands
• T/OBS.11/--  Italian Somaliland

Petitions to the Trusteeship Council were issued with the symbol element PET. Related documents included OBS (observations) and COM (communications). 

The numbers in the symbols were consistent for the territory, for example, documents with the series symbols T/PET.2/ -- T/OBS.2/-- and T/COM.2/ all concern the Trust Territory of Tanganyika. 

• T/PET/General : Trust Territories in General
• T/PET.1/-- : Western Samoa
• T/PET.2/-- Tanganyika
• T/PET.3/-- Ruanda-Urundi
• T/PET.4/-- Cameroons under British administration
• T/PET.5/--Cameroons under French administration
• T/PET.6/-- Togoland under British administration
• T/PET.7/-- Togoland under French administration
• T/PET.8/-- New Guinea
• T/PET.9/-- Nauru
• T/PET.10/-- Strategic Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands
• T/PET.11/--  Italian Somaliland

• Meeting records
  • Meeting records are issued as individual documents as T/PV.--
  • From the second session, meetings records issued in the Official Records (TCOR) were summary records

• Meeting records
  • Meeting records are issued as individual documents as T/PV.--
  • From the second session, meetings records issued in the Official Records (TCOR) were summary records