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United Nations
The United Nations headquarters is a distinctive complex in New York City that has served as the United Nations's headquarters since its completion in 1952. It is located in the Turtle Bay neighborhood, on the east side of Manhattan, on spacious grounds overlooking the East River.
The complex includes three major buildings: the Secretariat (the 39-floor office tower), the General Assembly building (where all member nations of the United Nations meet in the UN General Assembly), and the Dag Hammarskjöld Library. It is also notable for its gardens and outdoor sculpture.
Although the site of the United Nations headquarters is U.S. territory, U.N. regulations take precedence over U.S. laws within the site. In addition, many of the diplomats working there have diplomatic immunity and so cannot be prosecuted by local courts. In the 1990s, however, the New York City government took steps to force diplomats to abide by local laws when living and traveling outside the U.N. headquarters, especially those concerning parking tickets and drunk driving.
The United Nations headquarters building was constructed in New York City in 1949 and 1950 beside the East River on land purchased by an 8.5 million dollar donation from John D. Rockefeller, Jr. It is a declared international zone belonging to all Member States, and as such will survive in perpetuity, forever belonging to the Member States as an asset of the UN.
UN membership is open to all "peace-loving states" that accept the obligations of the UN Charter and, in the judgement of the organization, are able and willing to fulfil these obligations. The General Assembly determines admission upon recommendation of the Security Council.
The term "United Nations" was coined by Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II, to refer to the Allies. Its first formal use was in the 1942 Declaration by the United Nations, which committed the Allies to the principles of the Atlantic Charter and pledged them not to seek a separate peace with the Axis powers. The name was transferred to the UN as it was founded by the victorious powers in the war as a condition of the Atlantic Charter and other wartime agreements. Initially, the body was known as the United Nations Organization, or UNO. But by the 1950s, English speakers were referring to it as the United Nations, or UN.
The United Nations System is based on six principal organs, part of what is collectively called the United Nations System:
UN General Assembly
UN Security Council
UN Economic and Social Council
UN Trusteeship Council
UN Secretariat
International Court of Justice
The idea for the United Nations was elaborated in declarations signed at the wartime Allied conferences in Moscow and Tehran in 1943. United States president Franklin D. Roosevelt suggested the name "United Nations" and the first official use of the term occurred on January 1, 1942 with the Declaration by the United Nations. During World War II, the Allies used the term "United Nations Fighting Forces" to refer to their alliance. From August to October 1944, representatives of France, the People's Republic of China, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the USSR met to elaborate the plans at the Dumbarton Oaks Estate in Washington, D.C. Those and later talks produced proposals outlining the purposes of the organization, its membership and organs, as well as arrangements to maintain international peace and security and international economic and social cooperation. These proposals were discussed and debated by governments and private citizens worldwide.
Proposed Alternatives
Prior to the choice of the site in New York City, Navy Island in Ontario, Canada was proposed as an alternative headquarters for the United Nations. An international committee pitched the site as the "World Peace Capital" over 1945 and 1946. The island was considered to be an ideal location as it lay on the boundary of two peaceful bordering countries. It was proposed that Navy Island would be ceded to the United Nations as long as the headquarters remained, and to revert to the Canadian government should the U.N. move. The proposal was ultimately turned down in favour of the current site in New York City.
In Fiction and Film
The building has a distinctive appearance in North by Northwest.
In The Pink Panther Strikes Again, the building is flattened by a gigantic laser.
The Interpreter -- released in the spring of 2005, directed by Sydney Pollack, and starring Sean Penn and Nicole Kidman -- was the first movie to be filmed inside the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council buildings. The filming took place at night, when the buildings were not being used for official business. Pollack felt that the movie could not be filmed anyplace but the real UN Headquarters.
In The Animatrix: The Second Renaissance, the headquarters is destroyed by the forces of Zero-One.
In The Peacemaker, terrorists plotted to destroy the UN HQ by detonating a stolen Russian nuclear warhead.
External links
Information on public tours
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