The general form for citing constitutive documents of the United Nations is as follows:

Eg Charter of the United Nations, art 27.

In general, it is sufficient to cite United Nations materials using the resolution number (if applicable) and the United Nations document number.

Early United Nations materials, however, do not have document numbers. When citing such material, include the session number.

Eg 2005 World Summit Outcome GA Res 60/1, A/Res/60/1 (2005).

Eg Resolution on the Definition of Aggression GA Res 3314, XXIX (1974).

(a) Author and title

Include the author’s name if given.

Eg Hamilton Amerasinghe Informal Single Negotiating Text Part IV Presented by the President of the Conference: Addendum-Settlement of Disputes A/CONF62/WP9/Add1 (1976) at [6].

Give the title in italics.

(b) Resolution number

When citing a resolution, include the resolution number.

Use the following abbreviations: “GA Res” for General Assembly resolutions; “SC Res” for Security Council Resolutions; “ESC Res” for Economic and Social Council Resolutions; and “T Res” for Trusteeship Council Resolutions.

Eg Strengthening of the United Nations System GA Res 51/241, A/Res/51/241 (1997).

(c) Session number

If the document does not have a United Nations document number, give the session number.

Give the session number in Roman numerals after the resolution number followed by a comma.

Eg United Nations Flag GA Res 167, II (1947).

If the document is from a special session, indicate this by putting "S-" before the session number.

Eg Protection of the City of Jerusalem and its inhabitants: reference to the Trusteeship Council GA Res 185, S-II (1948).

(d) United Nations document number

Give the United Nations document number, if one is available. Where a United Nations document number is available, it is unnecessary to include the session number.

(e) Year

Include the year of the document within round brackets at the end of the citation.

(f) Pinpoint reference

Include any pinpoint reference after the year.

Cite material in the Yearbook of the International Law Commission in this way:

Eg 2269th Meeting – International liability for injurious consequences arising out of acts prohibited by international law [1992] vol 1 YILC 97 at [42].

Eg Diplomatic Protection – First report on diplomatic protection, by Mr John R Dugard, Special Rapporteur [2000] vol 2, pt 1 YILC 205 at [31].

Eg Report of the International Law Commission on the work of its fifty-fourth session [2002] vol 2, pt 2 YILC 1.

(a) Document description

Give the title of the document in italics with spelling and capitalisation as it appears on the title page of the book (unless the original is in all caps, in which case capitalise only the first letter of significant words). A subtitle may be preceded by a colon if it is not preceded by any punctuation mark on the title page. Remove any unnecessary punctuation from the title.

(b) Year

Give the year of the yearbook in square brackets.

(c) Volume

Give the volume of the yearbook. As the yearbook is divided into both volumes and parts, indicate that the number is a volume number by putting “vol” before it.

Note that volume 1 contains a summary of the International Law Commission’s meetings and volume 2 contains reports to the General Assembly.

(d) Part

If the volume being cited is divided into parts, write “pt” and then give the part number. Separate the volume and part numbers with a comma.

(e) Page number

Give the page number on which the document being cited begins.

(f) Pinpoint