What’s the historical significance of that city and country in particular?
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First, the UN General Assembly and the Security Council are in New York. The International Court of Justice is in the Hague, Netherlands. So, not everything is headquartered in Geneva.
Second, Switzerland is a good spot because it is neutral. It is safe space for diplomats to go to and discuss issues. Why Geneva specifically, I don’t exactly know. I think Lucerne is Switzerland was also considered, but they eventually settled on Geneva.
The headquarters of United Nations is in New York. There are lots of UN offices around western Europe, including Geneva. But the headquarters is in NY. The Geneva office houses a number of UN agencies. It is for example the headquarters of the United Nations Human Rights Council, but not the United Nations itself. The precursor of the UN, the League of Nations, were headquartered in Geneva. In fact it is the exact same complex that is now the UN offices. The League of Nations chose it because it was fairly central in the civilized world and located in a very neutral country. So it would be easy for diplomats to travel to regardless of travel distances and boarder closures. The UN headquarters in NY did maybe represent the shift in world politics from Europe to America. But also Rockefeller did donate quite a sizable plot in Manhattan to the UN that would be a great place to have the headquarters.
and here I thought the UN was [headquartered in NYC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headquarters_of_the_United_Nations). Must be something else causing all that diplomat gridlock traffic.
It’s not. The headquarters of the United Nations is in New York City. That’s where the Secretariat and General Assembly are.
The UN has three additional regional headquarters in Geneva, Vienna, and Nairobi.
Some UN agencies are headquartered in Geneva, including but not limited to the UNHRC, the WHO, and the WTO.
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