In an area known as “Turtle Bay” ( once the site of slaughter houses and tenament buildings), along the East River portion of Mid-Town New York City, is the International headquarters of the United Nations (approximately 200 yards from the front door of our apartment building). It was created on June 26, 1945 as a replacement for what many felt was an ineffective League of Nations. The UN has been described as an “Intergovernmental Organization tasked to promote international cooperation and to create and maintain international order” (quoted from its mission statement). Fifty-one member states comprised the original beginnings of the UN. There now are 193 member states. During its early years, adhering to the goals of its mission statement was complicated by the “Cold War” between the United States and the Soviet Union (two of the five permanent member states, which also included France, The United Kingdom, and the Republic of China -also known as Taiwan; however, in 1971, this was changed to the People’s Republic of China - otherwise known as mainland China). The 18 acre headquarters site is considered to be “International Territory” with its own security force (The New York Police Department patrols the outside perimeter, but has no jurisdiction within the grounds of the property).
Prior to the establishment of the UN, several international treaty organizations tried to regulate conflicts around the world; these included the International Committee of the Red Cross, The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907, the Paris Peace Conference, and the League of Nations (with varying degrees of success -although critics of the UN say the same thing about its efforts). Six languages have been identified as the official means of communication at the UN; i.e. Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. Administratively, it is organized into six departments; (1) General Assembly, (2) Security Council, (3) Economic and Social Council, (4) Secretariate, (5) International Court of Justice (centered at The Hague ), and (6) UN Trusteeship Council (which has been inactive since 1994). In its 73 year history of existence, the United Nations has been involved in attempting to regulate a number of major events, including the partitioning of Palestine which created the State of Israel, the Korean Conflict, the Suez Crisis, the Congo Civil War, and peacekeeping in Cyprus ( one of the UN’s longest peacekeeping missions).
The largest gathering of world leaders in history took place during the “2000 Millennium Summit” in order to look at the UN’s role in the 21st century. This resulted in the formation of the “Millennium Development Goals” of focusing on poverty reduction, public health, and gender equality.
Tours of the United Nation’s headquarters are available, with tickets being obtainable in the Visitors Center across the street from the main entrance. We found this one hour tour to be quite informative.
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