UN Geneva

UNOG stands for the United Nations Office at Geneva. UNOG is the representative office of the United Nations Secretary-General at Geneva. It is the largest United Nations office after United Nations Headquarters in New York.

In addition to representational and liaison functions with Member States, non-governmental organizations, host country authorities and other United Nations entities based in Geneva, the Office provides conference services for over 8,000 meetings every year and administrative services to many United Nations entities based in Geneva and elsewhere.

The Director-General is responsible for all activities of the United Nations Office at Geneva. For more information on the Director-General and her mandate, visit the Director-General's webpage.

Approximately 1,850 people work for UNOG. Around 3,500 staff work inside the Palais des Nations. 

Lengthy negotiations conducted at the Palais des Nations have resulted in the resolution of bitter, drawn-out conflicts. Examples of these include the armistice in 1953 between North and South Korea and, several decades later, agreements on Afghanistan in 1988. Efforts to resolve conflicts in areas such as Abkhazia/Georgia, Cyprus, East Timor, Liberia, Syria, Yemen, the territories of the former Yugoslavia, and about the conflict in Sudan have also been pursued at the Palais des Nations in the past years. Geneva is a favoured place for multilateral and bilateral consultations and meetings to facilitate peaceful solutions to protracted problems. For example, in November 2002, the Presidents of Cameroon and Nigeria met at the Palais des Nations at the invitation and in the presence of the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, to follow up on the decision of the International Court of Justice on the border dispute between the two countries. More information on specific activities is available on our page on peace negotiations and in the UNOG Library and archives collections.

The United Nations family comprises a large number of intergovernmental organizations, specialized agencies, programmes, funds, offices and research institutes as well as related organizations. Many of these organizations have a presence in Geneva. 

UNOG is a member of this wider United Nations family in Geneva and cooperates closely with many of the United Nations entities present here, including providing administrative and conference services support. However, members of the United Nations family in Geneva are autonomous bodies. They have their governing bodies, budgets and secretariats.

For more information, see the section of the website devoted to the UN Family in Geneva.

UNOG is part of the United Nations Secretariat, which is described in Chapter XV of the Charter of the United Nations. The Secretariat Headquarters is in New York. UNOG is one of three Secretariat offices away from Headquarters, the other two being located in Nairobi and Vienna. 

Facilitating cooperation with regional organizations is part of the mandate of the United Nations Office at Geneva. UNOG represents the United Nations in the ‘tripartite process’, a framework of informal consultations with the Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. 

WTO is the successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). WTO is not a United Nations specialized agency and it is not part of the United Nations system, but has cooperative arrangements and practices with the United Nations.

The Visitors’ Service at UNOG organizes lecture tours in 12 languages and information programmes on United Nations activities, the history of the Organization and the issues on its agenda.

For more information, see the section of the web site about the Palais des Nations. The UNOG Annual Report provides a comprehensive yearly overview of the work of UNOG, including key statistical information.

Thousands of people enter the Palais des Nations every day and their reasons for visiting may vary widely. UN staff and their families, official delegations, NGOs and journalist have, or can request, permanent access to the premises.

Most conferences and official meetings are only accessible for a limited group of attendants: NGOs, UN personnel, invited experts or first-hand witnesses may attend and give their input to the discussions which are usually held by representatives of the Member States. Journalists are allowed to attend public meetings. However, the majority of these meetings can be followed online. 

Public events are usually open for everyone, but advance registration is necessary. These events include cinema screenings, commemoration of special days, discussions, concerts, exhibitions and other cultural or artistic events. An overview of upcoming events can be found in our events section where you will find all registration details.

Visiting the Palais des Nations is only possible in the context of a guided tour. For security reasons, it is not possible to just walk around the premises as an external visitor. Guided tours can be booked online. For more information, have a look at our Visitors’ Service page. 

Students and researchers, professionals of the liberal arts and journalists can request access to the UN Geneva Library and Archives for work or research purposes. More information can be found on the dedicated registration page. 

All information about access to the Palais des Nations can be found on our "directions" page. 

Yes, the Palais des Nations is in large parts accessible, and we are dedicated to accommodating everyone entering the Palais. For more detailed information, please read our directions page which highlights wheelchair accessible routes within the Palais des Nations premises; our page on accessibility; and information about organizing accessible meetings. 

During the ongoing renovation of the Palais des Nations, accessible routes might temporarily be blocked. Please have a look at our circulation map for updated information. 

If you are participating in one of the meetings at UN Geneva, you can usually ask for special accommodation during your registration in Indico.UN. Should you have questions or comments, or if you require any additional assistance, don’t hesitate to contact our disability and inclusion focal point. 

Most meetings taking place at the Palais des Nations are organized by one of the Geneva-based UN entities. Among many others, the sessions of the Human Rights Council and the Conference on Disarmament are held at the Palais. The World Health Assembly and the International Labour Conference are equally carried out here every year. 

Thanks to its excellent facilities and its location at the center of Geneva, one of the hubs for global governance, numerous other meetings of global importance have been organized at the Palais des Nations, such as the negotiations on a global plastics treaty.

The UN journal gives an overview of upcoming meetings at UN Geneva (and other duty stations).

Besides these official, intergovernmental meetings, UN Geneva, Permanent Missions and affiliated NGOs organize a variety of events, many of whom are publicly accessible. An overview of these events can be found on our dedicated events page. 

You will need to register for any meeting or event happening at the UN via our participants’ platform, Indico.UN. Most intergovernmental and expert meetings limit their attendance and send out targeted invitations. If in doubt, you can contact the secretariat that organizes a specific meeting. Their contact details can be found with the respective Indico.UN calendar entry. 

Public events are usually accessible by everyone, unless otherwise stated in the announcement. Still, an Indico.UN registration is necessary to obtain access to the premises. 

The digital recordings of all "public" meetings can be accessed in all official languages on a dedicated portal online. The site allows for searches by date and key word. Thereafter, the audio language and requested segment of the meeting can be selected. The "floor" option will provide the recording of the original language in which the intervention was made, whereas the other languages will provide access to the interpretation. Only the intervention in the original language constitutes an authentic record of the proceedings. Please visit the web page for accessing recordings of meetings. Live webcast access is available in the original language that the intervention is being made, as well as in English (as broadcast from the interpretation booth). Please also check the web page for UN Web TV .

Indico.UN is the dedicated registration, participants and access management tool of UN Geneva. Meeting organizers can create an event page on Indico.UN on which they publish all essential information relating to the meeting: timing and venue, background information and documents, a registration form, practical information on, e.g. access and access restrictions to the UN, issuance of participants' badges, invitation to speaking engagements etc. 

Everyone wishing to participate in an event taking place at UN Geneva needs to register through Indico.UN. A number of events organized by the UN in other locations are equally organized through Indico.UN.

The Division of Conference Management of the United Nations Office at Geneva serves primarily conferences and meetings for the United Nations bodies and its Programmes, Funds, Regional Commissions, and Specialized Agencies. Non-governmental organizations, and other organizations with special status, are also allowed to host meetings at the Palais des Nations.

Guided tours can be booked online.

You may choose between the following options:

• Individual visitor tours (you join a mixed group)
• Group tours (15 people or more)
• Exclusive visits for small groups (up to 9 people)

Select your preferred date and time, choose the number of participants, fill in your contact information and pay online to reserve your spots. Please note: we only accept credit card payments.

If you have special requests or additional questions, or if your group size exceeds the available spots shown online, please contact the Visitors’ Service:

Tel.: +41 (0)22 917 48 96
Mail: visit-gva@un.org

The guided tours through the Palais des Nations are very popular and often sell out weeks in advance. For groups, we recommend booking at least three months before your visit. 

For individual visitors, new availabilities open once a month: on the 20th of each month, we release the slots for the following month.

Tickets for individuals sell out quickly, so we encourage you to check our booking platform on that date.

All participants need to register from the age of 14 years onwards.

Please read your confirmation ticket carefully. As soon as you receive your ticket, every person in your group needs to register on Indico.UN, our events registration system, in order to receive a digital access badge. The access badge received by e-mail will have to be presented upon arrival at the Palais des Nations on the day of your tour. 

Please be at the Pregny Gate 30 minutes before your tour to allow time for security screening and transfer to the Visitors’ Center.  

The entrance for guided tours is at Pregny Gate, (in front of the Red Cross Museum).

The exit is also through this gate.