VISITING THE UNO HEADQUARTERS IN THE EAST RIVER

Today, The Grandma has visited the United Nation HQ in New York City, the same that Pau Casals visited in 1971 demanding peace and respect for Catalan people.

 

The Grandma belongs to a persecuted minority, and she has decided to explain her case in the best place to do it.

Minority rights are the normal individual rights as applied to members of racial, ethnic, class, religious, linguistic or gender and sexual minorities, and also the collective rights accorded to any minority group.

The United Nations is headquartered in New York City in a complex designed by a board of architects led by Wallace Harrison and built by the architectural firm Harrison & Abramovitz, with final projects developed by Oscar Niemeyer and Le Corbusier.

The complex has served as the official headquarters of the United Nations since its completion in 1951. It is in the Turtle Bay neighbourhood of Manhattan, on 6.9 to 7.3 ha of grounds overlooking the East River.

Its borders are First Avenue on the west, East 42nd Street to the south, East 48th Street on the north, and the East River to the east.

The term Turtle Bay is occasionally used as a metonym for the UN headquarters or for the United Nations as a whole.

The headquarters holds the seats of the principal organs of the UN, including the General Assembly and the Security Council, but excluding the International Court of Justice, which is seated in The Hague. 

The United Nations has three additional subsidiary regional headquarters, or headquarters districts. These were opened in Geneva (Switzerland) in 1946, Vienna (Austria) in 1980, and Nairobi (Kenya) in 1996.

These adjunct offices help represent UN interests, facilitate diplomatic activities, and enjoy certain extraterritorial privileges, but do not contain the seats of major organs.

More information: United Nations

Although it is in New York City, the land occupied by the United Nations Headquarters and the spaces of buildings that it rents are under the sole administration of the United Nations and not the U.S. government.

They are technically extraterritorial through a treaty agreement with the U.S. government. However, in exchange for local police, fire protection, and other services, the United Nations agrees to acknowledge most local, state, and federal laws.

None of the United Nations' 15 specialized agencies (such as UNESCO) are located at the headquarters. However, some autonomous subsidiary organs, such as UNICEF, have their headquarters at the UNHQ.

The UN identifies Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish as its six official languages. Delegates speaking in any of these languages will have their words simultaneously interpreted into all of the others, and attendees are provided with headphones through which they can hear the interpretations.

A delegate is allowed to make a statement in a non-official language, but must provide either an interpreter or a written copy of his/her remarks translated into an official language.

More information: Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

Article 2, Universal Declaration of Human Rights