United Nations resolution

A United Nations resolution (or UN resolution) is a decision of a United Nations (UN) bodies. Any UN body can issue resolutions. However, in practice, most resolutions are issued by the Security Council or the General Assembly.

The legal status of UN resolutions has often been a matter of intense debate:

• Most experts appear to consider most General Assembly resolutions to be non-binding (Articles 10 and 14 of the UN Charter refer to General Assembly "recommendations"),

• However, the status of Security Council resolutions is more ambiguous. In particular, it is not clear if all Security Council resolutions are binding are only those adopted under Chapter VII of the UN Charter ("Action with Respect to Threats to the Peace, Breaches of the Peace, and Acts of Aggression"). Under Article 25 of the Charter, UN member states are obligated to carry out "decisions of the Security Council in accordance with the present Charter" but it is unclear what kinds of resolutions are covered by the term "decisions".

For more information on specific resolutions, see:

• UN General Assembly Resolution
• UN Security Council Resolution