Photo Gallery: The UN Blues

(MENAFN- Swissinfo) 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. This content was published on January 11, 2026 - 10:00 3 minutes Mark Henley

• Deutsch de Fotograf Mark Henley zeigt eine UNO in Schockstarre Read more: Fotograf Mark Henley zeigt eine UNO in Schocks
• Français fr En images: le blues de l'ONU Read more: En images: le blues de
• Italiano it La malinconia delle Nazioni Unite in immagini Read more: La malinconia delle Nazioni Unite in imm
• العربية ar مصوّر الأمم المتحدة:“ذهب نواياي تحوّل إلى أبيض وأسود” Read more: مصوّر الأمم المتحدة:“ذهب نواياي تحوّل إلى أبيض وا

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.

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.

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:

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