Die Vereinten Nationen in Bonn

The United Nations in Bonn
19
It is not unusual for construction projects in Bonn to make slow
progress. The UN Campus, too, took some time to take shape.
Following a thorough and scrupulous refurbishment, taking into
account the building’s status as a protected monument, the Langer
Eugen tower was handed over to the United Nations on July
11, 2006. Among those present were Federal Chancellor Angela
Merkel and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan (but not the UN
policeman previously mentioned, who was on leave at the time).
It was planned that the UNFCCC Secretariat should move to Altes
Hochhaus the following year, which proved impossible. However,
the United Nations now resided in a landmark building with
a rooftop UN emblem, which is visible from afar and symbolizes
Bonn’s status as a UN city. Moreover, the number of UN agencies
and staff in town had continued to grow, establishing Bonn
as an increasingly important UN location. During the inauguration
ceremony in the former plenary hall of the German Bundestag,
which had meanwhile become a part of the World Conference
Center Bonn (WCCB), Secretary General Kofi Annan
stated: “It is from Bonn that the United Nations leads the world’s
efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change. It is from Bonn
that we seek to protect migratory animals and endangered species.
It is from here that we try to protect one billion of our fellow
human beings from the consequences of land degradation. It is
from here that we strive to improve early warning of natural disasters.
And it is from Bonn that we organize the sending of volunteers
– thousands of them, from many lands – to all regions of
the earth, to help with the essential work of economic and social
development. This is just a sampling of what we do here.”
It would take a further six years for the second stage of the UN
Campus, the Altes Abgeordnetenhochhaus, to be finalized and
handed over to the United Nations. After years of having been
told that they would move there “in three years’ time“ or “shortly“,
UNFCC staff were able to attend the formal handover of the
building on October 31, 2012 and the Secreatariat finally moved
into the building one year later. In principle, the building was
worth waiting for. The historic building, refurbished and partially
rebuilt according to the highest ecological and energetic standards
and embellished with a variety of works of art, is an architectural
jewel and a representative entrée for the UN Campus.
There is, however, a catch. Since the planning phase, the number
of UNFCCC staff has reached around 600, while the new
building is laid out for half that number. At the same time, the UN
family in Bonn has meanwhile grown to approximately 1,000,
ruling out the option of housing all of the remaining UNFCCC
staff at Langer Eugen. For the time being, therefore, they are still
based at Haus Carstanjen.
For the time being. The UN Campus remains a work in progress.
A third construction stage is currently being planned. These
plans envision a new 17-storey building on the Campus and the
integration of the so-called Wasserwerk (Water Works) – which
housed the temporary plenary hall in which the German Bundestag
voted to reinstate Berlin as the German capital in 1991 – and
a number of other buildings into the Campus. It remains open to
doubt whether this will definitively resolve the problem of lack of
space. So far, the office space available to the UN Bonn has
never grown proportionately to the number of UN staff, as the
heads of Bonn-based UN agencies have repeatedly pointed out.
Says Shyamal Majumdar, Head of UNESCO-UNEVOC: “We need
more space. More and more international institutions are looking
to come to Bonn.” The Executive Secretary of the Bonn Convention,
Dr. Bradnee Chambers, shares Majumdar’s view. As the
international lawyer from Canada, who looks back on a long UN
career with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
(UNCTAD) in Geneva, the United Nations University
in Tokyo and the United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP) notes, “I am sure that once the message gets out of the
advantages Bonn offers, we will see more UN agencies relocating
here. I think we can realistically assume that the number
of UN staff in Bonn will grow considerably in the next five years.”
UPSIDE, DOWNSIDE
Which raises the question as to what these advantages might
be. After all, Bonn hardly has a reputation as a vibrant ‘Weltstadt’,
a buzzing metropolis. But while some, particularly younger,
UN staff members find the city somewhat lacking in action
and excitement, others see the positive side – the calm and the
manageable scale of the city. As Bradnee Chambers, who first
visited Bonn in the late nineties as a participant of UN climate
change conferences recalls, “The first thing that struck me was
how incredibly green this city is.” Chambers disagrees with the
view that Bonn is the epitome of urban dullness. “I don’t think so
at all. It’s a beautiful city with lots of culture, opera, theaters.
And every weekend there is something going on in the old town.
Bonn offers good services, good infrastructure and good public
transport. I love the old architecture and the beautiful churches.
And I think it’s great that I can bike to work and that life in Bonn
is affordable, unlike Geneva or Paris. You can afford to enjoy
what the city has to offer. And due to the many international