Welcome to UN portal...

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What are these pages about?
UNA-UK is not the United Nations! As such, we cannot answer your enquiries on behalf of the UN Secretariat or any of its funds, programmes or agencies. UNA-UK is able, however, to provide background information about the UN family of organisations. These pages are your guide to the UN, from a UK perspective. The information contained here is not exhaustive, but designed to be a helpful starting point in finding out more about the UN and its work.

So where is the UN in the United Kindgdom?
There is no UK 'office' or 'branch' of the UN (Secretariat) in London. Only one UN agency - the International Maritime Organisation - has its headquarters in the UK. Other UN bodies - the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) - have small offices in London.

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has a collaborating centre in Cambridge. Visit the UNEP-World Conservation Monitoring Centre's website for more details.

The UK was previously home to a United Nations Information Centre, an office of the UN Department of Public Information. However, as part of DPI reforms, the UNIC offices of Western Europe were centralised and relocated to Brussels, under the Regional UN Information Centre (now the UN Regional Information Centre, or UNRIC). UNRIC has a UK desk, and can be contacted via:

Tel:+32 (0)2 788 8484
Fax: +32 (0)2 788 8485
E-mail: info@unric.org

Postal Address: UNRIC
Residence Palace
Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat 155
Quartier Rubens, Block C2, 7th and 8th Floor
1040 Brussels, Belgium

Visit the UNRIC website for further details.

Can you tell me more about the UN?
The UN is not one body. It is a complex family of organisations, made up of six principal organs (General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council, Trusteeship Council, International Court of Justice and the Secretariat); 15 agencies (e.g. WHO, FAO and UNESCO); and several programmes and funds (e.g. UNICEF, WFP and UNDP). These bodies operate with varying degrees of autonomy.

The UN Secretariat (i.e. the UN organ headed by the Secretary-General) has its main headquarters in New York, with three others in Geneva, Vienna and Nairobi. Visit the following websites for more information:

The UN homepage
The UN Secretary-General
UN Office at Geneva (UNOG)
UN Office at Vienna (UNOV)
UN Office at Nairobi (UNON)

To find out more about the structure and work of the UN, you might like to download a diagram of the UN system and visit 'About the UN', a section of the UN's website.

You can keep up-to-date with developments at the UN by visiting the UN News Centre.