Photo gallery: the UN blues

Closed off escalator at the United Nations headquarters in New York. Mark Henley

When Geneva-based photographer Mark Henley travelled to New York to cover a United Nations conference, he found the global organisation in turmoil — squeezed by massive budget cuts and a crisis of credibility. His photos capture the sombre mood hanging over the corridors of the 80-year-old multilateral institution.

During the many years that I have been taking photographs at the UN in Geneva, I had wanted to observe the heart of this global institution in New York – the place to which governments direct their attention and from which all UN bodies take their cues.

When I finally got the opportunity in March 2025 during a conference on a treaty to ban nuclear weapons, both the world and the UN had changed profoundly.

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A UN employee on the phone while walking a corridor at UN headquarters at the end of the day. Mark Henley

View of the UN TV studios at the United Nations headquarters. Mark Henley

United Nations General Assembly meeting at UN Headquarters. Mark Henley

United Nations lift operator, in a suit belonging to the UN, wearing a map of the world tie. Mark Henley

Russian representative at a meeting of the United Nations Security Council at UN headquarters in New York. Mark Henley

Participant during an emotional side event organised by ICAN (the International Campaign to Ban Nuclear Weapons) to launch a report on the impact of nuclear weapons on children during the week-long Third Meeting of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons at the United Nations headquarters in New York. Mark Henley

Diplomat from Sierra Leone surrounded by translators papers, during the Third Meeting of the Treaty Prohibiting Nuclear Weapons. Mark Henley / Panos Pictures

A woman stops to look at a portrait of Kofi Annan, amongst the line of paintings of former Secretary Generals lining the ground floor of the Secretariat Building of UN headquarters. To the right is Ban Ki-moon. Mark Henley

A member of the science advisory group is addressing the week-long Third Meeting of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Mark Henley

United Nations administrative staff at work during a meeting of the United Nations Security Council at UN headquarters in New York. Mark Henley

Anti-war demonstrator on Times Square outside US army recruiting office decorated with Stars and Stripes and displaying videos of soldiers in action. Mark Henley

Discussion between a diplomat and UN functionaries during a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, at UN headquarters. Mark Henley

Packed side event at the United Nations on the history and lessons learnt from the Hibakusha movement in Japan. The Hibakusha are victims of the nuclear bombing of Japan. The event took place during the week-long Third Meeting of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), now signed by almost half the world’s states. The TPNW was created in 2017, despite the nuclear powers, and has now been signed by almost half of the UN member states. It is unusual in the prominent role given to civil society, and quite apart from a symbolic existence, it funds crucial scientific research into nuclear issues, and gives a platform to victims of the nuclear weapons industry. Mark Henley

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and entourage walking a UN corridor on a Friday evening, as the building empties. Mark Henley

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I found an organisation in disarray, with its approaching 80th birthday overshadowed by massive budget cuts on top of long-standing funding shortages. The UN Security Council, whose primary responsibility is to promote peace and stability around the world, appeared not only unfit for its purpose but, through the veto system, complicit in prolonging certain conflicts.

The United States, once the organisation’s traditional fireman, seemed instead not only to be fanning the flames, but actually dancing round them. The UN Secretary-General António Guterres walked the headquarters corridors flanked by security guards, but his proposed reforms are opposed and derided by staff and UN bodies alike – an unintended legacy in the making as his final year approached and with no successor yet in sight.

Fox News broadcast of US President Donald Trump as he addresses the United Nations General Assembly. Mark Henley

Within the UN headquarters, the media booths – accessible only through hidden corridors – created strange proximities. Turn one way, and you might find yourself listening to nuclear scientists and civil society representatives – the outside world – bringing new research, urgent perspectives, and no small measure of fear to the 100 non-nuclear-armed states gathered there. Turn the other, and you are at the UN Security Council, looking down on a broken circle dominated by the nuclear powers, curtains drawn against the distractions of the outside world and, it seemed, the voices in the room next door.

>> Read our story about the impact of budget cuts on International Geneva:

One of my initial ideas had been to capture an image of the glittering golden plinth that dominates the UN General Assembly Hall. I had planned to photograph “power”, but I ended up shooting anxiety – the anxiety of a world increasingly in disarray; anxiety at the heart of an organisation under attack, undermined, and fully aware that it is unable to respond at the very moment when it is needed most. And then there was my own anxiety, as I observed these realities and the gold of my intentions dissolved into black and white.

Edited by Virginie Mangin/sb