Effects of Atomic Radiation

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 51 Effects of atomic radiation, published in 2017.

What else is in this group?

71 documents · 1956–2025

Newer documents in this group exist (latest: 2025).

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2025	A/RES/80/75	Effects of atomic radiation	2,118	–
2024	A/RES/79/85	Effects of atomic radiation	2,050	–
2023	A/RES/78/71	Effects of atomic radiation	1,847	–
2022	A/RES/77/119	Effects of atomic radiation	1,915	–
2021	A/RES/76/75	Effects of atomic radiation	2,150	–

This group bundles related documents that are not individually ordered.

What subjects does this mandate have?

3 subjects

Information Dissemination Ionizing Radiation Radiation Effects

What’s in this document?

20 operative paragraphs

Commends the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation for the valuable contribution that it has been making since its inception to wider knowledge and understanding of the levels, effects and risks of exposure to ionizing radiation and for fulfilling its original mandate with scientific authority and independence of judgment;

Reaffirms the decision to maintain the present functions and independent role of the Scientific Committee;

Re-emphasizes the need for the Scientific Committee to hold regular sessions on an annual basis so that its report will be able to reflect the latest developments and findings in the field of ionizing radiation and thereby provide updated information for dissemination among all States;

Notes with appreciation the work of the Scientific Committee, and takes note of the report on its sixty-fourth session,² including the report on the implementation of its long-term strategic directions, and encourages the Committee, over its coming sessions, to continue to work towards implementing strategies to support its long-term efforts to serve the scientific community, as well as wider audiences;

²Official Records of the General Assembly, Seventy-second Session, Supplement No. 46 (A/72/46).

Appreciates the arrangements made by the Scientific Committee for activities to follow up on its 2013 evaluation of the levels and effects of radiation exposure due to the nuclear accident after the 2011 great east-Japan earthquake and tsunami, such as the systematic review of scientific information published since the completion of the Committee’s evaluation,³ welcomes the publication of the third review, and encourages the secretariat of the Committee to disseminate the findings of the Committee’s systematic reviews, in particular, to the public;

³Ibid., chap. II, sect. B.1.

Welcomes the two substantive scientific evaluations completed by the Scientific Committee during its sixty-fourth session, on the principles and criteria for ensuring the quality of the Committee’s reviews of epidemiological studies of radiation exposure and on epidemiological studies of cancer risk due to low-dose-rate radiation from environmental sources,⁴ looks forward to the publication of the supporting scientific annexes thereto, and appreciates the evaluation of data on thyroid cancer in regions affected by the Chernobyl accident;

⁴Ibid., chap. III.

Requests the Scientific Committee to continue its work, including its important activities to increase knowledge of the levels, effects and risks of ionizing radiation from all sources, and to report thereon to the General Assembly at its seventy-third session;

Supports the intentions and plans of the Scientific Committee for conducting its programme of work of scientific review and assessment on behalf of the General Assembly, in particular its next periodic global surveys of radiation exposure, to be conducted in close cooperation with other relevant organizations, and requests the Committee to submit plans for its ongoing and future programme of work to the Assembly at its seventy-third session;

Welcomes developments in streamlining procedures for publishing the reports of the Scientific Committee electronically on its official website and as sales publications, and calls upon the secretariat to continue both to monitor the timely publication of those reports and to strive to publish them within the same calendar year as their approval;

Invites the Scientific Committee to continue its consultations with scientists and experts from interested Member States in the process of preparing its future scientific reports, and requests the secretariat to continue to facilitate such consultations;

Welcomes, in this context, the readiness of Member States to provide the Scientific Committee with relevant information on the levels and effects of ionizing radiation, and invites the Committee to analyse and give due consideration to such information, particularly in the light of its own findings;

Recalls the strategy of the Scientific Committee to improve data collection, encourages in this regard Member States, the organizations of the United Nations system and non-governmental organizations concerned to provide further relevant data about levels, effects and risks of radiation exposure from various sources, which would greatly help in the preparation of future reports of the Committee to the General Assembly, and encourages the International Atomic Energy Agency, the World Health Organization, the International Labour Organization and other relevant organizations to further collaborate with the secretariat on arrangements for the collection, analysis and dissemination of data on radiation exposures of patients, workers and the public;

Welcomes the use and ongoing development by the secretariat of an online platform for collecting data on the exposure of patients and workers, and urges Member States to take part in the Scientific Committee’s global surveys of radiation exposure and to nominate a national contact person to facilitate coordination of the collection and submission of data on the exposure of patients, workers and the public within the country;

Takes note of the Scientific Committee’s outreach strategy for the coming years, in particular the enhancement of the website of the Committee and the publication of informative leaflets and posters in all the official languages of the United Nations, and continues to encourage that consideration be given to publishing the website in all of those languages;

Requests the United Nations Environment Programme to continue, within existing resources, to service the Scientific Committee and to disseminate its findings to Member States, the scientific community and the public and to ensure that the administrative measures in place are appropriate, including clear roles and responsibilities of the various actors,⁵ so that the secretariat is able to adequately and efficiently service the Committee in a predictable and sustainable manner and effectively facilitate the use of the invaluable expertise offered to the Committee by its members in order that the Committee may discharge the responsibilities and mandate entrusted to it by the General Assembly;

⁵Ibid., chap. II, sect. E, para. 39.

Also requests the United Nations Environment Programme, in view of the resignation of the current Secretary of the Scientific Committee, to take proactive steps to ensure continuity in the Committee secretariat through the timely appointment of the next Secretary;

Encourages the Secretary-General to ensure that support for the Scientific Committee is appropriate, sufficient and, where necessary, strengthened, within existing resources, particularly with regard to the deputization of the Secretary and the avoidance of disruptions in staffing, and to report to the General Assembly at its seventy-third session on these issues;

Encourages Member States in a position to do so to make voluntary contributions to the general trust fund established by the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme and also to make contributions in kind, in order to support the work of the Scientific Committee, and the dissemination of its findings, in a sustainable manner;

Takes note of the list provided by the Secretary-General, pursuant to paragraph 18 of General Assembly resolution 71/89 of 6 December 2016, of Member States that had expressed, by 11 September 2017, their interest in membership in the Scientific Committee, namely, Algeria, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Norway and the United Arab Emirates,⁶ and invites each of these Member States to designate one scientist to attend the sixty-fifth session of the Committee as an observer;

⁶A/72/557.

Decides to review the possible increase in the membership of the Scientific Committee with a view to establishing a procedure at the seventy-third session of the General Assembly for possible further increases in membership of the Committee, and to apply this procedure with regard to the list referred to in paragraph 19 above, pursuant to paragraph 19 of Assembly resolution 66/70 of 9 December 2011.

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