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As noted in the last column (IJLI, v. 22, no. 1) a number of organizational changes occurred in major United Nations organs in the summer of 1993 prior to the opening of the 48th session of the General Assembly, September 21, 1993. Even minor changes are likely to affect the Organization's documentation and details are provided to help explain. The preceding column concentrated on changes in the Security Council, but this time concentration is on the General Assembly, the only organ in which all 184 states are members.

While news of United Nations activities in Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia and other trouble spots has been in the press almost daily in recent months, information about internal UN developments are more difficult to come by. Fortunately, we have recently obtained documents on some organizational changes that affect the way the UN carries on its business and consequently the paper work documenting its activities. These changes involve several UN bodies, including the General Assembly and the Security Council, as well as other UN units. The number of developments is such that one cannot easily cover all the information in one column, and it has been decided to concentrate here on Security Council documentation.

The first major legally binding international nuclear safety convention was adopted at the conclusion of a diplomatic conference held at the headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, June 14-17, 1994. The draft convention had been developed by a group of legal and technical experts from more than 50 countries in the period since 1991 when the Agency's General Conference expressed support for the idea of such a convention. With the fall of communism in the former Soviet bloc, potential safety risks in aging reactors in that region were exposed. States that become parties to the new Convention will bind themselves to a number of important safety rules and accept the obligation of reporting to and participating in periodic peer review meetings to verify the implementation of the treaty obligations. The interval between review meetings is not to exceed three years, and reports of the meetings are to be made public through a document treating the issues discussed and conclusions reached during a session (articles 21 and 25).

Although Major United Nations organs such as the General Assembly have printed rules of procedure and terms of reference, it is often difficult to identify and locate such items for smaller UN bodies. Even if such a document is located one is often uncertain if the item is the latest edition. Documents containing the terms of reference of several UN bodies are valuable because they bring similar types of information together in one place.

A most welcome new United Nations reference tool is a cumulative Index to Resolutions of the Security Council, 1946-1991. This 277-page volume, prepared by the Dag Hammarskjold Library, carries document symbol ST/ LIB/SER.H/5 and UN sales number E.93.I.6. Although the UN publishes an annual compilation of Security Council resolutions, which includes an index, this is the first official index since the cumulation issued for the years 1946-1970.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child adopted by the United Nations General Assembly resolution 44/25 on November 20, 1989 was last reported in this column in the Winter of 1990 (IJLI, v. 18, no. 3). As noted then, the Convention entered into force on September 2, 1990. The initial documentation of the States parties to the Convention and the Committee on the Rights of the Child now provide additional information. These documents carry the words "Convention on the Rights of the Child" on the upper left corner of the cover pages and the new symbol "CRC" on the top of the upper right corner. The first documents noted emanate from the first meeting of the States parties to the Convention which opened at UN headquarters on February 27, 1991. The initial document, a single-page item carrying the symbol CRC/SP/1, dated November 30, 1990, is the provisional agenda of the first meeting.

The united nations recently issued a compilation of national legislation against racial discrimination. The publication, which has a 1991 imprint, bears the title: Second Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination: Global Compilation of National Legislation against Racial Discrimination. This volume covers 205 pages and carries the symbol: HR/PUB/90/8.The Charter of the United Nations, which was signed in June 1945 at San Francisco, entrusts the UN with promoting and ensuring respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms "for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion." The General Assembly, in one of its first resolutions, declared in 1946 "that it is in the higher interests of humanity to put an immediate end to religious and so-called racial persecution and discrimination." The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the General Assembly December 10, 1948, is the most fundamental human rights instrument adopted by the United Nations. Since that time there have been numerous conventions and declarations aimed specifically at eliminating racial discrimination. These include the Declaration and International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, adopted November 20, 1963 and December 21, 1965, respectively, and the Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid, adopted November 30, 1973.

With the world's attention focused on the Persian Gulf crisis during the latter part of 1990 and the important part played in the situation by the United Nations Security Council, the 45th session of the UN General Assembly received very little attention in the press. In general, however, this post-Cold War session was considered a success, with an unprecedented number of resolutions adopted by consensus. As usual there were numerous resolutions of interest to the legal community.