1. The United Nations family in International Geneva
Briefing 2 June 2014 Charlotte Warakaulle United Nations Office at Geneva

2. 5 Generational Opportunities
Promoting sustainable development
Preventing natural and man-made disasters
Making the world safer and more secure, including through nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation
Helping countries and peoples in transition
Encouraging youth and gender empowerment

4. Largest duty station outside UNHQ
9,528 staff working for the United Nations across Geneva
192 Permanent Missions and Permanent Observer Offices; largest concentration of Member States outside UNHQ – Fiji opened today
An estimated 2/3 of the Organization’s activities take place in Geneva, in particular operational
Over 35 United Nations entities represented, of which some 20 are headquartered in Geneva

5. A large United Nations family
Home to major UN programmes and offices: ECE, UNCTAD, OCHA
Headquarters of 5 specialized agencies: WHO, ILO, WIPO, ITU, WMO
Programmes: UNHCR, UNAIDS
UN training and research institutes: UNITAR, UNIDIR, UNRISD
Regional offices for UNDP, UNICEF, UNEP

6. Peace, Rights and Well-being
The humanitarian capital of the world:
human rights, humanitarian assistance, refugees
An essential centre for improving public health worldwide
Keeping tabs on climate change
Delivering assistance in emergency
situations
Developing standards and promoting
cooperation in social and economic development (trade, labour) or technical fields (intellectual property, telecommunications)
Keeping disarmament on the international agenda
Growing hub for cybersecurity issues

7. Peace, Rights and Well-being
Innovation: Development of ideas; research and critical thinking for the policy-making process
Negotiation: development of standards and norms that enable progress and interaction
Implementation: Provision of expert assistance in implementation processes, capacity-building
Monitoring: Review of progress,
feeding experience into the process

8. Global impact, every 24 hours
Surfing the web
Intellectual property rights
Environmental protection
Labour rights
Dialling codes and frequencies
Health concerns
Safely to final destination by air and road
Level playing field in trade and in the global value chain

9. International Geneva over 40,000 UN Geneva 9,500+ staff
(including diplomats, civil servants, private sector, NGOs, etc.)
over 40,000
UN Geneva
9,500+ staff
Palais des Nations
(mainly UNOG, UNECE, UNCTAD, OCHA)
4,000 staff
UNOG staff
(DoA, DCM, SSS, UNIS, Library)
1,600
The second largest United Nations duty station with 1,579 staff representing 115 nationalities working at UNOG and 9,528 staff working for the UN system in Geneva
188 permanent missions, permanent observer missions and offices accredited to UNOG = diplomats and their families make up more than 35,000 people!
2,500 people working for non-governmental organizations.

10. Advantages of “International Geneva”
The number and variety of actors present + the range of topics they address + the expertise they represent = global comparative advantage
Large United Nations presence
Key international organizations (ICRC, IOM, ISO, CERN and others)
Vibrant civil society, with more than 450 NGOs having a presence here
Rich research and academic community – universities, specialized research – “Intellectual Geneva”
Dynamic private sector

11. More than the sum of its parts
Proximity matters – important to be present where the others are
Building partnerships and networks across institutions and themes, which is essential with cross-cutting challenges
Tradition for collaboration and consensus-building
Possibility to link to non-State actors – not only NGOs but also municipal and regional actors

12. New Networking Model
Geneva a place where new networks bring together different actors focused on one thematic challenge that cannot be dealt with by one particular actors – international organizations, NGOs, practitioners and private sector
Geneva Peacebuilding Platform
Geneva Internet Platform

13. UNOG: Representative Office of SG
Support diplomatic efforts of the Secretary-General
Promote political objectives through exchanges with high-level political officials
Promote the reform programme of the Secretary- General in Geneva
Facilitate the efforts of the diplomatic community; liaise with Permanent Missions and Observer Offices
Facilitate and support inter-agency cooperation and advance system-wide coherence
Represent the Legal Counsel

14. Linking Geneva and New York
Director-General of UNOG is the representative of the Secretary-General in Geneva
Ongoing exchanges among Secretariat staff, including videoconferencing
Links between Permanent Missions
Liaison offices in Geneva and New York

15. What’s up ahead?
Post-2015 development agenda: feeding expertise into the framing of the agenda, key role in implementation
Climate change: what will happen after COP21? Research, policy development, risk reduction work
Cyberchallenges: Prosperity and privacy
Human rights: preserving what we have achieved
Security in an urbanizing world: how to make megacities – and all cities – work
People on the move: Opportunities for progress, resistance and concerns