The United Nations in Vienna

Along with New York, Geneva and Nairobi, Vienna is one of the four headquarters of the United Nations. The Vienna International Centre (VIC), commonly known as "UNO City", was designed by Austrian architect Johann Staber. Opened on 23 August 1979, it has been rented to the United Nations for 99 years at a symbolic rate of 1 Austrian schilling (7 cents) annually.

More than 4,000 employees from over a 100 countries work for the Vienna-based organizations. About a third of them are Austrians. Some €22 million in annual operations costs are borne by the Organizations themselves. The VIC also pumps about €360 million annually into the Austrian economy in the form of administrative expenses, the purchase of office equipment and supplies, and spending by staff and conference delegates.

Numerous international conferences and meetings are held annually at the Vienna International Centre. Events of a much larger dimension are held in the adjacent Austria Center.

Located at the Centre are the United Nations Office at Vienna (UNOV), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO PrepCom), and the United Nations Commission for International Trade Law (UNCITRAL).

Other United Nations organizations and entities with offices in Vienna are: the United Nations Postal Administration (UNPA), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR), the The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) , the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

The International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) which coordinates environmental projects along the Danube is also located at the VIC.

 UNITED NATIONS OFFICE AT VIENNA

The United Nations Office at Vienna (UNOV) provides administrative support to VIC-based programmes in conference planning, language interpretation and building security. The Director-General of UNOV represents the Secretary-General in dealings with the host country and diplomatic missions in Vienna.

The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (OOSA), is the office responsible for promoting international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space. The Office implements the decisions of the General Assembly and of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. It has the dual objective of supporting the intergovernmental discussions in the Committee and its Scientific and Technical (S&T) and Legal Subcommittees, and assisting developing countries in using space technology for development. In addition, it follows legal, scientific and technical developments relating to space activities, in order to provide technical information and advice to Member States, international organizations and other United Nations offices.

The network of United Nations information centres (UNICs), services (UNIS) and offices (UNOs) links the Headquarters with people around the world. Located in 57 countries, these field offices of the Department of Public Information (DPI) help local communities obtain up-to-date information on the Organization and its activities. Each of theses centres and services provide information support for the affiliated countries. The United Nations Information Service (UNIS) Vienna is responsible for the public relations work of the United Nations offices and for the Visitors Service. At the same time, it functions as the United Nations Information Centre for Austria, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia.

UNITED NATIONS OFFICE ON DRUGS AND CRIME

Effective 1 November 1997, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) was formally established in Vienna to focus on and enhance its capacity to address the inter-related issues of drug control, crime prevention and international terrorism.

 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT

The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) is the specialized agency helping developing countries and transition economies alleviate poverty by enhancing the productive capacities of their small and medium-sized industries. UNIDO does this through integrated programmes (IPs) that work at the policy, institutional and enterprise levels. The UNIDO IP is designed to build a competitive economy, create productive employment and ensure a sound environment.

NUCLEAR COOPERATION / VERIFICATION

 The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the first United Nations organization in Vienna (since 1957), serves as the world's central intergovernmental forum for scientific and technical cooperation in the nuclear field. It is also the international inspectorate for the application of nuclear safeguards and verification measures covering civilian nuclear programmes.

 The Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO PrepCom) carries out lthe preparations for the implementation of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), which bans all nuclear weapons test explosions. To monitor compliance with the CTBT, the Commission uses seismic, hydroacoustic, infrasound and radionuclide technologies. The Commission's main task is the establishment of the worldwide International Monitoring System (IMS) of 337 facilities, and the International Data Centre (IDC) in the Vienna International Centre.The IDC receives more that 5 gigabytes of data from the IMS each day, which it analyses and forwards to the Member States.

 TRADE LAW

The International Trade Law Branch is the secretariat for a United Nations Commission (UNCITRAL) which promotes world trade by working to harmonize the relevant national regulations.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the voice for the environment in the United Nations system and headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya. The UNEP office in Vienna liaises with international organizations based in the region, provides the Secretariat of the Carpathian Convention on an interim basis, hosts UNEP's Balkan Programme including the coordination of the Environment and Security Initiative in South Eastern Europe and provides the mountain reference centre of UNEP.