Talk:United Nations Headquarters

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United Nations Headquarters was a good article nominee, but did not meet the good article criteria at the time. There are suggestions below for improving the article. Once these are addressed, the article can be renominated. Editors may also seek a reassessment of the decision if they believe there was a mistake.

Reviewed version: May 13, 2007

Contents

[edit] History

Where did the UN have its HQ before the building was constructed? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.83.107.213 (talk) 01:11, 6 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Request

We need more info! Does anyone have a map or know a whole lot about the interior of the building?

    • It would be cool if we could use some satelite imagery.

[edit] International territory

Imagine a person that wants to get to the UN headquarters (to hold a speech or something else). To get there the person would have to be on US territory first (for example on the way JFK airport - UN headquarters), thus he or she could be prosecuted by US law.

Is there a way to come to the UN HQs without going through national ground first? I.e. is there a helicopter landing place or something else that would allow someone to come from his or her country and go directly to the HQs via international ways? Thanks, --Abdull 10:28, 24 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Probably not. Even if the answer is yes, that way is probably closed to the public.--Jusjih 00:16, 3 March 2006 (UTC)
Correction, one has to pass American immigration and customs inspection before reaching the UN HQ, so forget your thought. Even foreign diplomats have to show their proper passports and visas to pass American inspection. Diplomatic immunity is not unlimited.--Jusjih 00:33, 3 March 2006 (UTC)
Is there a way to the Vatican that doesn't go through Italy? I mean, even if you take a helicopter to the Vatican, you'd still have to pass through Italian airspace. So what? 204.52.215.107 05:24, 22 July 2007 (UTC)

The whole coming and going thing is irrelevant. Accredited diplomats and heads of state have diplomatic immunity, and the US respects that even if it's at war. This is why guys like Castro, Chavez, and Ahmadinejad can come and go to the UN as they please. This is also why Iraqi diplomats at the UN continued to give press conferences during Desert Storm in 1991 without a peep of US objection. Sure, US customs & immigration can refuse to admit diplomats but that can only be done in accordance with the terms of the US/UN host country agreement which has the force of federal (treaty) law. Wl219 06:41, 22 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] UN staff does NOT have diplomatic immunity

The article has a lot of wrong information regarding diplomatic immunity. UN staff members do not have diplomatic immunity. For starters, there are more Americans working at the UN than any other nationality, and you cannot have diplomatic immunity in your own home country. Foreign UN staff have a G-4 visa (International organization officer or employee, and members of immediate family), which not only doesn't grant any immunity, but its also very restrictive. The only people working at the UN itself with diplomatic immunity are political appointees such as heads of major organizations (UNICEF, UNESCO, UNDP) and chiefs of the handful of existing major independent programmes, all of which are temporary positions, and none of them are UN staff. In the case of the Oil-for-food programme fiasco, only one person involved - Alexander Yakovlevhad - had to have his diplomatic immunity revoked in order to be prosecuted.

The case regarding the parking tickets back in the mid-90s was not related to UN employees, although it was reported as such by the media at the time. The people who were involved were those working for local consulates and their countries' missions to the UN. They are not UN employees, and do not work at the UN, although a lot of these missions and consulates are located within the same neighbrohood. Foreign representatives of their countries' governments are the ones with diplomatic plates on their vehicles.

And for the record, I've been working at the UN for nearly 20 years, have a G-4 visa, no longer own a car but when I did it had NYS plates, had two speeding tickets and five parking ones and had to pay every one of them, recently had to pay a $150 dollar ticketd for crossing a red light on my bicycle, and have been arrested for disorderly conduct (a fight broke out at a bar where I was having a drink, and as I forced mine and my date's way out of there, the police came in and arrested anyone who looked like they'd been in a fight).

[edit] Architecture

This article needs material on the architecture and architects of the Headquarters buildings.

[edit] Proposed alternative of UN HQ

I read in National Geographic's September 1961 special UN edition that one of the alternatives for UN HQ is a travelling cruise ship moving regularly among member states. The article just stated it as a passing remark and I don't have other clues for the source/reference. Could somebody with a background on this matter verify this?

This sounds interesting, but I cannot verify this.--Jusjih 00:18, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Buildings/park before the UN?

Does anybody have any information about buildings, parks etc. that was removed in order to build the UN building? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 80.232.24.10 (talk) 13:54, 4 April 2007 (UTC).

I thought there was an Edison power plant or something and then Rockefeller took over the land, or something. But that plant's probably a few blocks away, so that probably doesn't count. I do know, however, that a residential set of apartment buildings popped up across First Avenue from the UN site back in the 1920s or 1930s named Tudor City, surrounding a small park, and both are still around (provided, of course, that one climbs up a staircase after crossing First Avenue). 204.52.215.107 05:44, 22 July 2007 (UTC)
It used to be a swamp before, which is what gave the neighborhood around the UN its name of Turtle Bay. One interesting little fact - if you look at the older buildings across the street on Tudor City, you'll notice that they only have a few very small windows facing towards the UN. That is because the swamp there was also used as a drainage ditch and garbage disposal. So the buildings all have their majestic façades facing towards Tudor City park, and only the bathrooms have a little window facing the open view of the river and Queens. Jdsouza 20:19, 2 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] GA nomination

Hi. Someone nominated this article for GA (I don't see the GA template here but trust this is so). A great subject but needs more work to pass GA. Here are some notes that I hope will help (feel free to use or not if I missed something). -Susanlesch 23:44, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

  • Can you say briefly (in a sentence), what the United Nations is?
  • Can you say the headquarters where built between 1947 or 1948 and 1952?
  • Can you mention that flags of every nation fly at the UN and when?
  • Who designed the interior?
  • Is renovation to cost $1 billion USD? (I read that here.)
This is hardly a reliable reference for the cost. Also who is paying? 74.78.162.229 (talk) 13:35, 17 January 2008 (UTC)
  • Can you give a source for the section "Public gatherings"? Who says it is a "tempting" venue? Who says which "few organizations... are allowed to hold events at the UN"?
  • Can you format all of the notes as citations? See WP:CITE#HOW.
  • Why are there five citations for the single paragraph in "Renovation plans"? If five are needed, then I would cite each sentence.
  • Can you give sources for the uncited parts? For example, the first four paragraphs of "Planning and construction"?
  • Can the article be written in the active voice? Who is speaking? Who is acting? Things like "was proposed" and "Brooklyn has also been suggested" need to say who proposed what. Or for example, "The $8.5 million purchase was then funded by his father, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who donated it to the City." could read "John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Nelson's father, then donated $8.5 million to the City of New York for...."
  • Can external links include the headquarters' Web site?
  • Can you mention the Foucault pendulum?

[edit] International territory?

What exactly does it mean when one says that the United Nations is "international territory"? What does it mean to the visitor? When someone breaks a law, whose law is he or she breaking, and how does he or she get punished, and who does the punishing? If the US is at war with a country and that country's diplomats happens to be at UN headquarters, what happens? How does the status of the UN headquarters compare with that of Vatican City from a legal and practical point of view, as far as relations with the surrounding country are concerned, and with countries in general? 204.52.215.107 05:37, 22 July 2007 (UTC)

Same as my answer above. US law applies to the extent it's allowed to under the US/UN host country agreement. From a practical standpoint for visitors, that means there's no tax for purchases at the gift shop. Wl219 06:47, 22 July 2007 (UTC)
See [1] Wl219 06:52, 22 July 2007 (UTC)
I was there today, and it also apparently means the UN can get away with providing tacky unitednationese gifts at steep prices (in American dollars, of course) and running a unitednationese post office. Their International style architecturally is beautiful but dated, and their restrooms apparently are stuck in the 1950s. 204.52.215.107 02:54, 25 July 2007 (UTC)
Oh yeah, and it also makes an excuse for them to use heavier security than in most New York skyscrapers.204.52.215.107 03:02, 25 July 2007 (UTC)
Security measures are probaby connected more with the high-level government officials being there every day than the extraterritoriality principle. Mystache 12:13, 25 July 2007 (UTC)
Who is responcible for the security of the UN? BrainOverfloW (talk) 06:11, 15 April 2008 (UTC)
UN Department of safety and Security Jdsouza (talk) 18:07, 11 June 2008 (UTC)