CHAPTER 9
THE BUILDING OF THE General Assembly of the United Nations Organization, houses the plenary of the General Assembly and has capacity for 1,800 seated people. At 50 meters high and 35 meters wide, it is the largest room in the complex. The plenum is adorned with murals by French artist Fernand Léger. In front of the chamber, there is the notorious tribune decorated in green marble, where the President and the committee that presides over the General Assembly sit, as well as the pulpit for the speakers. Behind the tribune, there is a United Nations emblem wrought in gold. The roof of the building is 23 meters high and is topped by a discreet dome.
At the main entrance to the General Assembly building, there is a quotation from Gulistan, by the Persian poet Sàdi of Shiraz. The complex that hosts the General Assembly was renovated more recently in 1980, when its capacity was expanded to accommodate a greater number of delegations. Each of the 192 delegations occupies six seats on the main floor.
The UN Headquarters is located in the east sector of Manhattan and was designed by a team of architects from different countries, led by Wallace Harrison, with the final project based on proposals by Brazilian Oscar Niemeyer and Le Corbusier. It was built between 1949 and 1952.
The United Nations has three additional headquarters, subsidiary and regional. These were opened in Geneva in 1946, in Vienna in 1980 and in Nairobi in 2011. All these additional headquarters jointly represent the interests of the United Nations, facilitate diplomatic activities and enjoy extraterritoriality; however, only the complex in New York hosts the main bodies of the organization, including the General Assembly and the Security Council. All fifteen specialized agencies of the United Nations are headquartered outside of New York City.
The property occupied by the headquarters of the United Nations and the spaces of the adjacent buildings are under the administration and control of the organization and not of the US government, being considered international territory through an agreement between the two governments. However, in exchange for getting urban and security services provided by New York, the United Nations chose to uphold most of New York's laws.
THE INCOMPREENSIBLE MURMURING of a veritable babel of languages and dialects, provoked by delegates representing almost every country, ceased when Cardinal Joseph Messina rose from his place of honor and, reaching the platform, greeted those present:
— My brothers, I have a dream! — said Messina, at the moment when everyone fell silent with attention converging on him — My dream is that all men find the path of Brotherhood and peace, and that escapes the reins of the instrumentalization of religiosity...
His speech was interrupted by applause that erupted throughout the auditorium.
— Peace — continued the Cardinal when the applause ceased — is a dream that is not mine alone, nor is it exclusive to you who are here in this auditorium, and who represent all the religions on Earth. Peace, my brothers, is a desire of the entire human race! And, it is in the name of peace that I, Secretary General of the Vatican, declare, under the protection of Allah, Jehovah, Shiva and all other evocations to the name of God, that from now on we will join our forces to create a world without fear, without wars and with a unique commitment, with peace.