70 Years of UN Membership: How Austria Became a Model Student

"Admission of Austria to the United Nations unanimously decided in today's evening session of the General Assembly. Stop," telegraphed the then Austrian observer at the United Nations, Kurt Waldheim, on the night of December 15, 1955, to Vienna. Exactly this body would elect Waldheim as UN Secretary-General 15 years later, and nine years later Vienna became the third UN headquarters.

"Final Point in the Fight for Freedom and Independence"

UN membership was a central component of Austria's pursuit of self-determination after World War II. It took just over two years for the occupying powers to grant the country its own observer at the UN headquarters in New York in September 1947. The country was then allowed to open an observer mission in June 1953.

While Vice Chancellor Adolf Schärf (SPÖ) celebrated the admission decided on December 14, 1955, as the "final point in the fight for freedom and independence," UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld spoke of a "historic day for the United Nations." The Swede's statement, however, had only marginally to do with Austria. After all, the vote marked the end of a five-year admission blockade in the young world organization. Equipped with their veto rights, the USA and the Soviet Union had prevented the admission of states close to the other side.

Particular credit for the breakthrough was due to the then Canadian Health Minister Paul Martin, who had mediated between the two blocs for months. He was able to secure an abstention from the USA on a Security Council resolution introduced by the Soviet Union, which admitted not only Austria but also Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, and Finland, as well as Hungary, Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, Cambodia, Nepal, Laos, Sri Lanka, Libya, and Jordan to the UN. The membership of the organization, founded ten years earlier, thus grew from 60 to 76.

Austria Quickly Became the "UN Model Student"

The newly minted member Austria distinguished itself as a "UN model student." As early as 1960, the Austrian Armed Forces participated in a Blue Helmet mission for the first time by sending medics to the Congo. Austria's commitment in this regard reached its peak in 1989 when Austria was the third-largest troop contributor. Today, the Austrian Armed Forces are only significantly involved in the UNIFIL mission in Lebanon with a notable contingent (159 soldiers), along with a handful of liaison officers in Kosovo (UNMIK), Western Sahara (MINURSO), Cyprus (UNFICYP), and the Middle East (UNTSO).

Several Austrians have climbed to top positions in the United Nations. The later Federal President Waldheim was UN Secretary-General from 1971 to 1981. Since September 2022, the top diplomat Volker Türk has held the influential position of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, making him the currently most influential UN diplomat. His office was incidentally created in Vienna, at the World Conference on Human Rights in June 1993.

And while half of the UN members have never been represented on the Security Council, Austria is currently aiming for its fourth term in the most powerful UN body. For the years 1973/74, 1991/92, and 2009/10, Austria was elected by the UN General Assembly to one of the ten rotating seats on the Council. Next June, it will be decided whether "Austria" will once again sit at the table of the world's most powerful states from January 2027.

24 Years After Austria's Admission: Vienna Became the Third UN Headquarters

24 years after Austria's admission to the United Nations, Vienna became the third UN headquarters - alongside the main headquarters in New York and the seat of the UN's predecessor organization, the League of Nations, in Geneva. The establishment of the Vienna UN headquarters occurred during the political heyday of then-Chancellor Bruno Kreisky (SPÖ), who also sought to position himself internationally as a peace mediator. He pushed through the construction of the Vienna UN City against strong domestic political resistance. Opened in 1979, the UN City is leased to the United Nations for a symbolic schilling (13 euro cents) for 99 years.

The construction of such an international center had already been offered to the UN by the ÖVP predecessor government in 1967. At that time, two important UN organizations - the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) since 1957 and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) since 1967 - were already based in Vienna. Later, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), the Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA), and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) were added.

With its approximately 5,000 employees from 150 nations, the UN City is a significant economic and social factor in Vienna. Vienna's role as a UN headquarters is repeatedly cited as an argument for why Austria cannot abandon its neutrality.

Cooperation not always frictionless

While the country is actively engaged in some areas of the United Nations - particularly in disarmament issues and the prohibition of certain inhumane types of weapons such as anti-personnel mines, cluster munitions, or nuclear bombs - cooperation with the UN is not always frictionless.

The hasty withdrawal of Austrian peacekeepers from the Golan Heights during the election year 2013 caused head-shaking in the UN. The then Federal President Heinz Fischer later described it as one of the few mistakes of his twelve-year term that he did not explicitly advise the red-black coalition government against the withdrawal. The withdrawal was justified with security problems following the start of the Syrian civil war. At 39 years, it was Austria's longest peacekeeping mission.

Hostile episode left no lasting marks

It became almost hostile towards the UN during the second black-blue government when then-Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) countered a critical report by then-UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on the asylum system with public criticism. "As Chancellor, I will not allow Austria to be badmouthed," Kurz said in May 2019. The UN experts had criticized deficiencies in legal aid for asylum seekers and the detention of children.

However, this episode did not damage Austria's reputation and its diplomats in the UN: Just a few months later, diplomat Elisabeth Tichy-Fisslberger was elected chair of the UN Human Rights Council. The then Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg (ÖVP) spoke in December 2019 of a "sign of recognition for the decades-long and tireless Austrian commitment to human rights within the United Nations."

(APA/Red.)

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