Communities empower global cooperation

The United Nations is headquartered in New York City. It is located in the Turtle Bay neighbourhood of Manhattan. Although it is situated 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 termed '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. Outside the UN office is a magnificent display of flags from all over the world. Seeing the Indian flag flying high among all the others filled my heart with pride.

I visited the United Nations HQ on January 27.This day is very significant, as it is the day Auschwitz victims were liberated from the camp by the Red Army. It was made extra special as it was the 75th anniversary. There was a giant exhibition about Auschwitz in the lobby.

We were taken around the building by an English- speaking guide (You can select your preferred language). There were other guides speaking in a number of different languages like Spanish, Chinese and Arabic. Our tour guide was from Senegal. We could not enter the UN General Assembly but I could see AntónioGuterres, the Secretary General of the UN, giving a speech to the General Assembly in the UNGA hall. It was a prayer meeting so we were not permitted to enter or photograph. I had just come from the lobby where the photos of past Secretary Generals are displayed and I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to see the current Secretary General. The meeting rooms I saw were the Security Council, the Trusteeship Council and the Economic and Social Council. In each we stood solemnly while the tour guide told us about the work done by each Organ of the UN.