UN Headquarters

The headquarters of the UN are in New York - USA. The amount of $ 8.5 million for the site of the permanent headquarters of the UN in New York city was gifted by Mr. John Rockefeller Junior. Apart from Rockefeller's gift, the city of New York also made certain pieces of land available within and adjacent to the site. In addition to this, the city also undertook a $ 30 million improvement programme in the vicinity of the Manhattan site.

According to an agreement between the UN and the USA, the UN has the power to make necessary rules and regulations pertaining to the headquarters area. It has also been agreed upon that in cases of differences between US rules and UN regulations, the latter would be followed. The Secretary General was empowered to formulate regulations. He also has the power to enforce immediately any regulation he deems necessary.

The headquarters comprise the Secretariat building, the conference area, the General Assembly building and the library building.

The conference area consists of three chambers, one each for the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council and other conference and committee rooms. The delegates’ dining room, private dining rooms and the Secretariat cafeteria are in the dining area.

The building of the General Assembly is slanting in shape. Its auditorium can accommodate 750 delegates, 270 observers, 234 members of the Press and 800 visitors. In the public area of the Assembly Hall, the UN book stall, gift centre, postal administration, sales counter, etc. are provided.

The library building at the UN headquarters was opened in February 1962. It contains UN books, periodicals and government documents which form a valuable reference collection from many countries in various languages. A selection of a large number of useful publications including dictionaries, encyclopedias and newspapers are available in the periodicals room.

The UN Home Page (www.un.org) serves as a one stop clearing house for information where one can find not only basic facts on the UN system, but also schedules for upcoming conferences and events. the latest UN news, speeches documents, publications, photos and more. Developed and maintained by the Department of Public Information (DPI), the UN Home Page has quickly become a universally accessible source of news and information about every aspect of the work of the world organisation The DPI database on the Net is the largest electronic database within the UN system.

A new Peace Bell Garden presented as a gift to the United Nations by the Government of Japan was opened at UN Headquarters in New York on 14 September – 2000. This garden is located near the statue of Hiroshima which is a memorial to the destruction by nuclear bomb, suffered by the city during the Second World War.


The UN Flag

The UN flag was adopted by the General Assembly in October 1947. It consists of the UN emblem in white on a medium light blue background. The proportion of the flag is two to three with the emblem five-eighth of the width. There is a flag code drawn up by the Secretary General which governs the use and protects the dignity of the UN flag.