UN Headquarters

The UN In Vienna And Guided Tours

United Nations Headquarters Vienna. If you never had a chance to visit a United Nations Headquarter, why not start in Vienna? The Austrian capital has a pretty impressive record of UN organisations, hosts around 5,000 UN officials, and runs more than 2,000 conferences and meetings each year. Read my primer and get information onguided tours.

Why A United Nations Headquarter Vienna?

United Nations Headquarters Vienna. There are four United Nations Headquarters world wide. In early 1980, Vienna became thethird UN Headquarters, after New York and Geneva. Nairobi joined later on as the fourth headquarters.

Even before that, international UN organisations such as the United Nations Organisation for Industrial Development (UNIDO) or the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had moved their operations to Vienna in the Fifties and Sixties.

Austria recognized that a permanent United Nations Headquarters in Vienna would significantly strengthen and protect Austria’s neutral status and its security, and reckoned the new Headquarters wouldprotect Austriain a better way than a higher defense budget. Therefore, the Austrian Government offered the United Nations to finance the construction of the new Headquarters in Vienna. Building work started in 1973 and finished six years later.

While theUnited Nations Office at Vienna(UNOV) manages and implements the UN programme on promoting cooperation on using the outer space in a peaceful way, there are 14 other UN offices and sub-organisations in Vienna. All of them are located in theVienna International Centreon the Danube in the the 22nd district, which houses around 5,000 staff, and has exterritorial status.

UN Organisations In Vienna

United Nations Headquarters Vienna. From Vienna, United Nations organisations get involved in a number of international incidents, such as recently theIAEA‘s monitoring of the heavily damaged nuclear reactor in Fukushima/ Japan, following the earthquakes in mid March 2011; or theUNHCR‘s warnings in relation to the situation of the Libyan refugees following the national protests in Libya from February/March 2011.

UN offices and sub-organisations in Vienna:

• United Nations Office at Vienna (UNOV)
• United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
• International Money Laundering Information Network (IMOLIN)
• International Narcotics Control Board (INCB)
• Office for Outer Space Affairs
• United Nations Postal Administration (UNPA)
• United Nations Information Service (UNIS)
• Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
• United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS)
• United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR)
• International Trade Law Division of the United Nations Secretariat / United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL)
• Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS)
• United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
• United Nations Environment Programme – Interim
• Secretariat of the Carpathian Convention (UNEP Vienna ISCC)
• United Nations Register of Damage Caused by the Construction of the Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (UNRoD)

United Nations Headquarters Vienna Guided Tours

United Nations Headquarters Vienna. If you would like to get behind the curtains of a United Nations headquarters, and learn about the work of the IAEA, UNIDO or UNHCR, the Vienna International Centre offers guided tours in multiple languages.

Tour times:Monday to Friday 11am and 2pm. The Vienna International Centre is closed on the following UN and public holidays: 3 January, 22, 25 and 29 April, 13 June, 30 August, 26 October, 7 November, 23 and 26 December 2011
Tickets:EUR 6
Bookings:no reservations needed for individuals and groups under 10 people.
How to get there:Take the underground line U1 in the direction Kagran, alight atKaisermühlen/Vienna International Centreand proceed to the main entrance/Gate 1.