United Nations to Leave Palais Wilson in Geneva This Summer as Part of Cost-Cutting Reforms

The United Nations is set to abandon the 225-room Palais Wilson in Geneva this summer. In 1937 the League of Nations vacated the same building shortly before its demise with the outbreak of World War Two.

U.S. policy. N. headquarters at the Palais des Nations.

U.S. President Woodrow Wilson. N. and international organisations have been cut or are transferring to cheaper locations.

N. posts in Geneva have been cut or are transferring since 2025, a Reuters survey of a dozen agencies and local authorities showed. 's 80-year history. The International Labour Organization recently exited two of the 11 floors at its Geneva base.

UNICEF is transferring some 70% of its 400 staff from Geneva. UNAIDS is facing possible closure. The International Organization for Migration has reduced its Geneva staff to about 600 from 1,000. The organization is shifting jobs to Thessaloniki in Greece, Nairobi, Bangkok, and Panama as it cut its global headcount to 16,000 from 23,000.

"I don't think we need a huge footprint in Geneva to do the job well," said IOM director general Amy Pope. The International Committee of the Red Cross is facing cuts. The World Trade Organization is facing cuts.

U.S. in core budget fees. U.S. President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the World Health Organization on his first day back in power.

U.S. N. workers to meet with member states, but not necessarily to do back-office functions. N. 4% on top of baseline salary due to high living costs.

Switzerland has pledged 269 million Swiss francs ($340 million) to support multilateral institutions in Geneva. A body established by the canton of Geneva and a foundation named after Hans Wilsdorf have jointly promised at least 50 million francs.

Workers than any other location. Geneva's mayor Alfonso Gomez said that the cuts were putting its reputation as "the capital of multilateralism" in jeopardy. "We remain deeply concerned. It's quite clear that...

The abandonment of multilateralism is a cause for concern not only for the city itself but for the world at large," he told Reuters. U.S. stand-off with Iran.

American envoys squeezed both the Ukraine war and Iran stand-off talks into a single day. Conflict with Iran broke out soon after. "Geneva is the illustration of a world that's not a zero-sum game, where people and nations see value in cooperating and one person's gain is not another's loss," said Jean-Marie Guehenno.

"We're unlearning the lessons we thought we'd learned from the terrible 20th century," he told Reuters. N. is moving to a slimmer but more fragmented model, with Kazakhstan, Qatar and Rwanda among the countries angling to host offices.

Al-Monitor reported that many see the belt-tightening as an overdue correction to a bloated bureaucracy while diplomats and former officials warn it is dismantling a key symbol of the post-World War Two international order.