United Nations University

The United Nations University (UNU) is the academic arm of the United Nations (UN). It bridges the academic world and the UN system. Its goal is to develop sustainable solutions for current and future problems of humankind in all aspects of life. Through a problem-oriented and interdisciplinary approach it aims at applied research and education on a global scale. UNU was founded in 1973 and is an autonomous organ of the UN General Assembly. The University comprises headquarters Tokyo, Japan, and more than a dozen Institutes and Programmes worldwide.

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UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Visits UN Campus in Bonn

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon meets with Heads of UN Agencies based in Bonn, the city leaders, and UN staff to promote his vision of a ‘green’ UN

July 2008 United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited the United Nations Campus on Wednesday, 16 July 2008, where he spoke with the UN staff about his priorities as leader of the UN organization and its agencies located in Bonn. Mr Secretary-General aligned his remarks with environmental preservation and the goals of the UNU Institute for Environmental and Human Security (UNU-EHS).

Prior to meeting with UN staff, Mr Secretary-General was warmly welcomed at City Hall by the mayor of Bonn, Ms Bärbel Dieckmann, and the Minister for Intergenerational Affairs, Family, Women and Integration for North Rhein-Westphalia, Mr Armin Laschet. Mr Secretary-General hailed ‘Germany’s UN City’ as a one of the most important UN locations in the European Union and praised the work of the UNU for their focus on environmental stability. Following his remarks, Mr Secretary-General signed the city’s ‘Golden Book’, one of the most outstanding collections of signatures in the world, and lunched with several city officials and UNU heads of agencies. The Secretary-General took a brief tour of the UN campus, the so called Langer Eugen building, which houses several UN agencies.

Mr Secretary-General completed his afternoon with a town hall meeting attended by about 700 UN staff members at the World Conference Center in Bonn. After greeting the crowd in German, Mr Secretary-General urged the staff to examine the environmental, human and food crises that affect many world citizens and to work together to become part of the solutions to these problems. He emphasized conservation of environmental resources and highlighted key lifestyle changes to assist with this conservation effort. Mr Secretary-General informed those in attendance of his plans to make the UN a ‘green organization’ by consolidating and reducing waste and preserving energy use.

Focus was also placed on creating a work environment that fosters creativity and production. He also emphasized the importance of every single staff member, who not only should feel as part of a big UN family, but also behave as one and remember that he is representing the entire UN. Mr Secretary-General expressed his desire to keep communication between UN departments located around the world open and positive and expressed his openness towards every concern. He concluded the town hall meeting by answering questions posed by the UN staff regarding the effectiveness of several UN pilot programs in foreign countries, staff mobility and staff development.

The Secretary-General Mr Ban Ki-moon visited the city of Bonn and the UN Campus for the first time in his tenure. The visit to Bonn concluded his two day visit to Germany. Earlier in the day, Mr Secretary-General met with world leaders in Berlin to discuss international affairs and the role of Germany within the context of the UN’s goals.