Danube Watch 2/2019 - Happy 40th, VIC!
T his year marks the 40th anniversary of the Vienna International Centre (VIC), seat of numerous United Nations, UN-affiliated and non-profit organisations. Vienna is one of the four UN headquarters world-wide, alongside New York City, Geneva and Nairobi. Vienna is also the only city within the European Union to host one of these UN headquarters. Furthermore, as the seat of around 40 international organisations and well over 300 bilateral and multilateral diplomatic representations - with around 3,800 diplomats and more than 6,000 international officials - Vienna is a major hub of international diplomacy even outside of the United Nations presence.
History of the Vienna International Centre
Vienna was selected as a location for a United Nations seat due to its historic significance, the large number of international organisations and non-profit organisations already located in the city and because of Austria's neutrality. This neutrality and Vienna's geographic location already made it a vitally important centre of international diplomacy during the Cold War. Therefore, it only made sense for its diplomatic importance to be expanded and reinforced with the addition of a United Nations centre.
In 1966, the Government of Austria offered to construct an international centre in Vienna for the United Nations system. A site on the left bank of the River Danube was then chosen for the proposed international centre. Hundreds of architects from all over the world competed to design the new UN centre, and Austrian architect Johann Staber's submission was eventually selected. In 1972, construction of the VIC finally began and took seven years to complete. Once finished, the Austrian government handed over the VIC complex to the United Nations and IAEA for the symbolic rental sum of one Austrian schilling (the equivalent of € 0.07 today) per year for 99 years. The VIC complex, as it stands today, covers an area of 180,000 m² and has extraterritorial status.
The VIC has emerged as a hub for the promotion of peace, security, sustainable development, disarmament and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. Notably, the VIC is also where the ICPDR Secretariat has called home for its 25 years of existence.
Commemorating 40 Years
To celebrate four decades of the United Nations in Vienna and the Vienna International Centre, UN Secretary-General António Guterres visited the VIC during his first official visit to Vienna on May 27th. The Secretary-General was welcomed by the Directors General of the UN organisations based here, by Mayor Michael Ludwig, by Austria's Minister of Foreign Affairs at the time, Karin Kneissl, and by the President of the Vienna Provincial Parliament, Ernst Woller. In an official ceremony, Secretary-General Guterres signed Vienna's Golden Book of Honour at the City Hall and attended a reception hosted by the City of Vienna to honour the anniversary.
Aside from the official events, a wide range of activities have been planned throughout Austria and in Vienna specifically including an Open House Day on 8th of September at the Vienna International Centre itself. The open house highlighted the 40th anniversary with exhibitions, films and presentations about the work of the UN organisations that call the VIC home. The wide-ranging spectrum of topics covered by Vienna-based UN organisations was well represented by information stands manned by official staff who were excited to address the general public and provide information about their organisations. The ICPDR also took part in the festivities, spreading the word of transboundary water resources management to a highly engaged public. The open house was an unmitigated success with over 3,000 visitors taking the opportunity to tour the VIC and to learn all about the work of the UN in Vienna, and that of the ICPDR. Our organisation definitely made its mark with our custom-made Joint Danube Survey bags and hundreds of Danube Basin overview maps hungrily picked up.
