Where can I find information about a UN Member State's position on an event or topic?

There are various ways a Member States can inform the United Nations of their positions on current events or other topics.

• One is to make a statement in a meeting of a UN organ, such as the General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council, or any subsidiary body. Statements may be recorded in the meeting records of the body. Type of document you need to consult: Meeting records
• The second way is for a Member State to send a communication to the UN. Type of document to take a look: Letters and Note Verbales
• Another option is to co-sponsor a draft resolution. Type of document: Draft resolutions and Meeting records
• And to look for the voting in a specific topic. Our voting database has the information for resolutions adopted by the General Assembly and the Security Council. 

How to search for Meeting records, Letters and Note Verbales, and Draft resolutions

One strategy to search for a Member State's position is to search for documents or statements in the UN Digital Library. The following sample search strategy will find letters, statements and draft resolutions sponsored by the Member State.

• Search: author:"MEMBER STATE" AND topic
• Example: author:"United Kingdom" AND (climate OR environment)
• Example: author:Thailand AND (wom*n OR gender)

You may want to use the filters in the side of the screen to narrow the search by type of document, body and/or date.

How to search for voting information

Another way to research a Member State's position is to look at their voting on a topic. The UN Digital Library has voting data for resolutions adopted by the General Assembly and Security Council. Click Voting Data, enter keywords, then review results to find a country's vote.

• Search document symbol (example: A/RES/79/10) or by keyword (example: migra* , will search for migrant, migrants, migration, migratory, etc.)
• The database uses the following notations to present the voting information in the record: 'Y' for Yes, 'N' for No, 'A' for Abstain. If there is no mark before the Member State's name, it means that the country did not vote.

Note that if you are looking for a data collection of voting records with information on Member States' votes of General Assembly Resolutions adopted through a vote (cvs file) you may want to check our Dataset from the Digital Library.

Please note:

• Member States may not express explicit positions on all topics or agenda items before the UN
• Try a variety of keywords for your topic -- sometimes UN documents use unusual vocabulary or UN jargon
• Many resolutions are adopted without vote in the General Assembly
• Meeting records may be issued long after a meeting is held (the Meetings Coverage & Press Releases website may provide an informal advanced version of the statements)

UN Member States on the Record is a website that provides access to information about membership and statements of Member States at the UN, including links to searches in the UN Digital Library.