Reports to Congress

The Bureau of International Organization affairs is responsible for preparing two regular, annual State Department reports to Congress, in accordance with public law. The report on "Voting Practices in the United Nations" is released each year at the end of March, while the "U.S. Participation in the United Nations" report is typically released in the fall of each year. Short descriptions of each report appear below.

Note: Each report covers the prior calendar year, e.g. the reports covering 2005 were released during 2006. This results in a one-year lag between the actual calendar year and the "current" report.

U.S. Participation in the United Nations (Typically released each fall)

This report is submitted to Congress pursuant to the "United Nations Participation Act of 1945" (Public Law 79-264). Section 4 of this law provides, in part, that:

"The President shall from time to time as occasion may require, but not less than once each year, make reports to the Congress of the activities of the United Nations and of the participation of the United States therein."

The United States Participation in the United Nations report is a survey of the activities of the U.S. Government in the United Nations and its agencies, as well as the activities of the United Nations and those agencies themselves. More specifically, this report seeks to assess UN achievements during the year, the effectiveness of U.S. participation in the United Nations, and whether U.S. goals were advanced or thwarted.

Voting Practices in the United Nations (Released each year at the end of March)

This report reviews voting practices in the UN Security Council and General Assembly  and presents data in a variety of formats. All Security Council resolutions for the entire year are described, and voting on them is tabulated. The report also statistically measures the overall voting of UN member states at the fall session of the General Assembly in comparison with the U.S. voting record. The Security Council and the General Assembly deal with a full spectrum of issues-including threats to peace and security, terrorism, disarmament, economic and social development, humanitarian relief, and human rights-that are considered critical to U.S. interests.

February 27, 2007