As the European headquarters of the United Nations, Geneva is marking the 75th anniversary of the founding of the UN and 100 years since the creation of the League of Nations.

Carlo Pisani

The United Nations Organization was born officially on October 24, 1945, when the signatory countries ratified the Charter that had been adopted in San Francisco on June 26, 1945, by the representatives of 50 countries.

The UN headquarters have since been established in New York, while the European Office of the United Nations was created in the Palais des Nations, the former home of the League of Nations, becoming the United Nations European Office at Geneva in 1966.

The Swiss city has since established itself as a world centre for diplomatic conferences and continues to keep alive the “spirit” that resulted in people choosing Geneva as the meeting place for nations when the League of Nations was founded in 1920.