United Nations Research

Question:  What are “essential medicines”? (This concept arises in global health and trade matters because providing essential medicines might require waiving trade barriers or taxes.)

Find a glossary.

http://www.nyulawglobal.org/globalex/United_Nations_Research1.htm#_Glossaries_for_UN_functions

What records does the U.N. have about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq?

Look in the Library catalog.

http://unbisnet.un.org/

See also the UN system libraries page

http://www.unsystem.org/en/libraRies/index.html

Note the World Bank (JOIS) research guides.

Who is Andreas Mavrommatis?

See the index to speeches.

http://unbisnet.un.org

Is there currently someone from Russia serving on the Advisory Board on Disarmament?

Begin at list of UN List of Entities

http://www.un.org/aboutun/chart_en.pdf

What is the UN doing in relation to the world’s financial crisis?

U.N. News Center (links to all U.N. news outlets)

http://www.un.org/News/

The U.N. seems to do a lot of diverse work on human rights. It has numerous units working on human rights. How do I find out the different responsibilities of these units? Can I also find out what kinds

of publications they produce?

Look in UN Research Guides

http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/resguide/spechr.htm

If there isn’t a research guide for my topic, is there a U.N. source that enables me to browse according to issue and see internal resource leads?

Browse through the page of “Issues on the U.N. Agenda”

http://www.un.org/issues/

What official U.N. documents, not internal memos and other sundries, tell plans for dealing with the issue of child soldiers?

Find these in the Official Documents System (ODS)

http://documents.un.org/advance.asp

If you were responsible for negotiating a treaty, where could you get some coaching on how clauses are drafted and how the UN treaty process works?

The UN International Law Portal has tribunals, treaties, research guide, legal technical assistance (browse by dep’t or subject)

http://www.un.org/law/

Every now and then I hear that the UN has sanctioned some country for something. What are UN sanctions all about?

Search according to document type in the UN Documentation Center

http://www.un.org/documents/

How is international peace and security different today than it was ten years ago?

When you need chronological information, go to the UN Yearbook.

http://unyearbook.un.org/

Is it true that in 2004 a UN employee sued the UN to have his domestic partner recognized as entitled to UN employee benefits equivalent to spousal benefits?

When you have a specific UN legal question and know approximately when the event happened, try the UN Juridical Yearbook.

http://www.un.org/law/UNJuridicalYearbook/index.htm

The end… zbogom