The State Department’s Bureau of International Organization Affairs (IO) is the U.S. Government’s primary interlocutor with the United Nations and a host of international agencies and organizations. As such, the Bureau is charged with advancing the President’s vision of robust multilateral engagement as a crucial tool in advancing U.S. national interests. U.S. multilateral engagement spans the full range of important global issues, including peace and security, nuclear nonproliferation, human rights, economic development, climate change, global health, and much more.
IO and its diplomatic missions in New York, Geneva, Vienna, Rome, Montreal, and Nairobi, actively promote U.S. interests, in part by advocating for more effective, transparent, accountable, and efficient international organizations.
United States Mission to the United Nations – New York
The U.S. Mission to the United Nations (USUN) serves as the United States’ delegation to the United Nations. USUN is responsible for carrying out the nation’s participation in the world body. In 1947 USUN was created by an act of Congress to assist the President and the Department of State in conducting United States policy at the United Nations. Since its inception, USUN has served a vital role as the Department of State’s UN branch.
Today, USUN has approximately 150 staff who represent the United States’ political, economic and social, legal, military, public diplomacy, and management interests at the United Nations.
United States Mission to the United Nations – Vienna
The United States Mission to International Organizations in Vienna (UNVIE) works with seven major organizations of the United Nations system based in Vienna: the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNDOC); the Preparatory Commission of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBT); the UN Office of Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA); the Wassenaar Arrangement; the UN Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). UNVIE also covers the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Laxenburg, Austria.
United States Mission to the United Nations – Rome
Rome, as headquarters of the three principal organizations dedicated to food and agriculture, is at the center of international efforts to promote sustainable development and combat world hunger. The U.S. mission in Rome serves as the link between the Rome-based international organizations and the United States Government. With staff representing the Department of State, Agriculture, Agency for International Development, the U.S. Mission works to advance UN efforts in the areas of emergency food aid, food safety standards, agriculture, fisheries, forests, and financing.
United States Mission to ICAO – Montreal
The U.S. Mission to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) works closely with the organization to reduce the number of international civil aviation accidents and fatalities through implementation of ICAO safety standards and recommended practices; increase transparency among member states by promoting the sharing of security audit results; increase the number of member states using machine-readable passports and biometric passports; and develop an auditing and reporting process to achieve standardization among member state aircraft fleets.
Headquartered in Montreal, ICAO is a UN specialized agency which promotes and develops standards and recommended practices for the safety, security and sustainability of international civil aviation. Founded in 1947 under the Chicago Convention, ICAO works in cooperation with its 190 Member States, including the United States.
United States Mission to the United Nations – Nairobi
The United States Permanent Mission to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) works with the secretariats of these two organizations and with the representatives of other member states in Nairobi to cooperatively advance the U.S. objective of protecting the environment while reducing poverty and promoting economic growth and find solutions to the phenomenon of rapid urbanization.
The Mission carries out this work through participation in the Committees of Permanent Representatives of UNEP and HABITAT, through informal consultations, and by serving as a link between these two Nairobi-based UN programs and the various parts of the U.S. Government that engage with them. In addition, the Mission also contributes to the U.S. Government’s efforts to improve the overall efficiency and effectiveness of the UN through these two programs.
