UN Resolutions as Item Type

army-jag341
Hi there, I would like to cite a specific UN Resolution, but I am having a hard time deciding what item type is the most accurate to use as when you change from one to another, data goes missing. Also, information such as the date when was adopted, agenda item, committee, and other UN identifiable information do not have a home to input. I looked at the previous thread on this subject, but it appears they were reverse-engineering the citation. I rather have a solid path ahead if I can
Thank you in advance for your time and help.
  • bwiernik
    Do you have a link to the previous discussion?
  • army-jag341
    Here it is... https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/9192/citing-un-resolutions/
  • bwiernik
    So there are two item types that these would generally fall under—Report or Treaty. What is the specific item you are looking to cite?
  • army-jag341
    Here is the link: https://undocs.org/en/A/RES/70/175

    It is a Resolution from the UN General Assembly...
  • gduffner
    I think neither of them is a good choice. I’d rather go with bill or statute. There are reports by the UN which look differently when cited and treaties are different too. I’d like to discuss it with @fbennett and the Juris-M community. A common solution for Zotero and Juris-M would be beneficial in my eyes.
  • army-jag341
    It would be useful to consider adding these types of sources that do not fit within one category or another to the list of choices if possible. Thank you!
  • bmanby
    I have used 'report' for a UN resolution, with the specific UN body as 'author', United Nations as 'institution', and the UN Doc number as 'report number'.
    However, this works OK in APA, but not in Chicago.

    Using an example I already have for a Human Rights Council resolution, in APA you get (Human Rights Council, 2013) for the in text citation, and the bibliography entry is:

    UN Human Rights Council. (2013). Resolution 22/7: Birth registration and the right of everyone to recognition everywhere as a person before the law (A/HRC/RES/22/7). United Nations. http://www.refworld.org/docid/53bfacfa4.html

    You've lost the precise date for the resolution, but arguably it's not necessary. In Chicago, however, the report number is not reproduced, so you have to include the document number in the title. In full note, you get for the same data:

    UN Human Rights Council, ‘Resolution 22/7: Birth Registration and the Right of Everyone to Recognition Everywhere as a Person before the Law’ (Geneva: United Nations, 9 April 2013), http://www.refworld.org/docid/53bfacfa4.html.
  • army-jag341
    Thanks for the suggestion, @bmanby ... Did you add the date to the institution to make it show on the citation string?
  • bmanby
    The date is in the usual date field; just that APA reduces it to the year only and Chicago gives the full date.
  • army-jag341
    Oh, I see. I think I was adding "Resolution" under "Report Type," which made the word resolution appear twice on the citation string. I still have not found a place to put the agenda item or the committee, but I am not sure if it is needed... Thoughts?


  • bmanby
    I leave 'report type' blank. And ignore agenda item. The committee could in some circumstances be the 'author'?
  • bmanby
    PS. Keeping 'Resolution' in the title is the best solution I think.
    And the above work-around also works in OSCOLA -- for the example above you get

    UN Human Rights Council, ‘Resolution 22/7: Birth Registration and the Right of Everyone to Recognition Everywhere as a Person before the Law’ (United Nations 2013) A/HRC/RES/22/7 .
  • army-jag341
    Thank you for the help, @bmanby!
  • vdv.camille
    edited May 3, 2021
    @bmanby the APA citation you obtain is not correct, see:
    "https://guides.library.ubc.ca/legalcitation/intlaw#:~:text=format, as appropriate.-,General format:,(Date%20or%20Year)%20pinpoint."

    General format:
    Author (if applicable),Title (if applicable), Resolution or Decision number, UN Body and OR Designation, Session number or year, Supplement number, UN Document number (Date or Year) pinpoint.

    Example:
    GA Res 217A (III), UNGAOR, 3rd Sess, Supp No 13, UN Doc A/810 (1948) 71.

    Any idea how to solve that?
  • luispuerto
    I would like to know also if there is any way to solve this… how should we categorize international treaties and declarations?
  • bwiernik
    Legislation is the best option
  • luispuerto
    There is no such thing as "legislation" on the options.
  • adamsmith
    legislation is the CSL term (i.e. how the citation styles refer to it), it's Statute in Zotero. CSL actually has treaty as well, though very few styles support it, but you can designate a Zotero item as a treaty by putting Type: treaty into the Extra field. If/when Zotero gets a treaty item type, that'd get automatically migrated.
  • luispuerto
    thanks!!!
Sign In or Register to comment.