Page 219 - 100 Reflections that Crafted Geneva International_V-Petrovsky_private special edition

38.

NOTES FOR THE ADDRESS TO DIPLOMATS
(UNITAR)

4 October 1995

A lthough most of you have probably been in Geneva for some time

already, let me nevertheless welcome you to the United Nations
Office at Geneva or UNOG as it is known. You might as well get
used to the many acronyms straight away. Believe me, there are many of them!
Welcome to the Palais des Nations, the headquarters of the first
intergovernmental organization, the League of Nations, which now serves as
the central facility for the United Nations in Europe. Geneva is the city with the
greatest concentration of’ UN staff worldwide and is known as the capital of
conference diplomacy and of humanitarian action.

Looking at what the United Nations is today, it is important to understand
the political and security environment of the past 50 years. The UN was
conceived in the midst of our planet's most devastating war and our century's
second global conflict. It was weaned and “took its first steps” during the
emergence of the nuclear and outer space age. It had a difficult adolescence
during which time the process of decolonization got under way. The
Organization has had its share of growing pains.

Much has been said of the effects that the Cold War had on the Organiza-
tion. While the Cold War prevented the UN from being utilized to its fullest
potential as a centre of agreed actions, it nevertheless provided an important
forum in a time of global confrontation. During this period the first United Na-
tions peace-keeping operations were conceived and deployed; the UN
undertook numerous and diverse humanitarian and development programmes
that to this day continue to provide assistance to those in dire situations and
contribute towards long-term solutions: the UN was instrumental in the pro-

197