If you follow the work of the United Nations, chances are you may need to check the website of the Journal of the United Nations every now and then to find out when and where a meeting is taking place and what is happening at that meeting. But have you ever stopped to think about when the Journal was first published? And how did it evolve to become the multilingual and informative website we use today? As the United Nations approaches its 80th anniversary, we delve deeper into the history of this staple daily UN publication.
The Journal’s story, like that of the UN itself, began in 1945. When the Preparatory Commission met to set the stage for the first General Assembly, Security, and Economic and Social Council sessions from November to December 1945, a ‘Journal of the Preparatory Commission’ was published daily. Even though those Journals are almost 80 years old, they are instantly recognizable as the same publication found on the Journal website today: they include programs of meetings, their agendas, summaries of previous meetings and daily lists of documents.
However, unlike today, the Journals’ content in 1945 was given in long, full sentences with a wide range of additional information included alongside meeting details. At times, that information was practical and gave instructions about accessing Church House in London, United Kingdom, where the Preparatory Commission’s meetings were held, for example. At other times, it suggested ways delegates might spend their free time in London, whether it be by going to the theater, sending UN-themed Christmas cards, or watching the Oxford vs. Cambridge Varsity Match at Twickenham. On 22 December 1945, the Journal was even used to try and locate a delegate who had been given shortchange by the Church House Post Office: ‘The Post Office is extremely anxious that he should claim his correct change as soon as possible.’
Interestingly, when the General Assembly (GA), the Security Council (SC) and the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) convened their first sessions in January 1946, separate Journals were published for each of these organs. Like those of the Preparatory Commission, these early Journals were wordy and dense with information. The first ‘Journal of the General Assembly,’ for example, gave extremely precise timings for the General Assembly’s first meeting: ‘It is the present intention that the meeting shall be formally called to order at 4 p.m. and that the proceedings shall actually start at 4.03 p.m. precisely, so as to allow radio commentators three minutes in which to introduce the theme and “build up” their stories.’
With Official Records published once a month, the daily summaries found in the early editions of the Journal were a primary way of learning about UN decisions. For example, the Journal from 11 January 1946 recorded the adoption of the UN’s first resolution on atomic energy. Several momentous speeches were also recorded in the Journal, such as that made by King George VI to the principal delegates of the General Assembly on 9 January 1946 where he declared it in their hands “to make or mar the happiness of millions of your fellow-men, and of millions yet unborn” (Journal 10, January 1946). In the years since, the Journal summaries have recorded other key moments, like the adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1959 and the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015. In its eight decades of publication, the Journal has given us valuable and up-to-date coverage of the work of the UN.
Multilingualism and the Journal
In 1951, the separate Journal publications merged into the singular Journal of the United Nations which covered meetings convened by the GA, SC, ECOSOC and other bodies.
In the second half of the 20th century, the Journal of the United Nations gradually expanded to include all six UN official languages. Since its inception, the Journal has always been available in the two original working languages of the GA: English and French. Then, in 1949, the first Spanish Journal was published. The Journal would be published in these three languages during the main part of GA sessions for the next two decades. In 1969, the Journal was published in Russian after it was voted a working language of the Assembly and, finally, in Chinese and Arabic in 1974. From then until 2018, the Journal was published in the six official languages only during the main part of GA sessions from September to December, and in a bilingual English-French format throughout the rest of the year. (Picture 6)
Since January 2018, however, when the Journal website was launched, the main sections of the Journal (such as ‘Official Meetings’, ‘Forthcoming Meetings’ and ‘Daily List of Documents’) have been consistently available in all six languages year-round, reflecting the importance of multilingualism to the UN.
The modern Journal
In the 1990s, the Journal began its digital migration, and over the coming decades the PDF format of the Journal would be developed into a highly interactive publication with clickable links.
Then, in December 2009, the Journal joined the social media world and launched its Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) accounts. The Journal has since amassed 85,000 followers on X and 13,000 ‘likes’ on Facebook, posting a wide array of useful information. In recent years, during the general debate of the General Assembly, the Journal, a product of the Department for General Assembly and Conference Management, has worked collaboratively with the Department of Global Communications to provide extensive real-time coverage of meetings held, posting the names and titles of speakers, and linking both a transcript and recording of their statements.
In January 2018, the Journal launched its multilingual website, covering the six languages of the UN all year round: journal.un.org. The Journal website has since been continuously improved to act as a single gateway through which readers can unlock all relevant information for meetings held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. Now, readers can access eStatements and watch UN Web TV webcasts directly in the Journal. A PDF of the day’s meetings or of one specific meeting is available and, since 2022, the Journal’s Progressive Web App has been downloadable, making the Journal’s content easily accessible from handheld devices on the go.
The Journal revamping project has not only taken steps to improve the user experience of the Journal, but also to streamline the process from content submission to publication, which takes place behind the Journal. Content processing, including review, editing, translation and formatting, is now done through a robust content management system. Its automation tools collect and connect existing data, organized into reusable templates, allowing for the production of large portions of the Journal using pre-translated standard text in the six official languages. This ‘robot writing’ allows for more accurate, timely and consistent published content and requires less intervention by translators, maximizing the cost-effectiveness and efficiency of the Journal’s publication.
Going global
One of the most exciting developments over the past few years has been the Journal’s expansion to cover the four main duty stations and all UN principal organs. In April 2023, a dedicated section for the International Court of Justice in The Hague was launched. Then, in August 2023, the Journal for the United Nations Offices at Vienna and Nairobi, respectively, were introduced. In March 2024, the United Nations Office at Geneva was added to the list of duty stations covered by the Journal, and today the meeting information for all these international duty stations can be conveniently accessed alongside that of UNHQ on the Journal website.
What once was a long-winded, paper document worth sixpence, is now a streamlined and easy-to-use website accessible anytime, anywhere, by anyone. Although the look and format of the Journal has changed greatly over its eight decades of publication, it has always been, and remains, a vital pillar supporting the day-to-day work of the UN at its Headquarters in New York and, now, beyond.