The United Nations Postal Administration celebrates 80 years of the United Nations

By David Hartwig

On Oct. 24 the United Nations Postal Administration celebrates the 80th anniversary of the United Nations with 12 stamps issued on three souvenir sheets of four stamps each.

Each of the three souvenir sheets features a vertical se-tenant (side-by-side) strip of stamps from a different United Nations post office. Stamps denominated $1.70 are from the U.N. headquarters in New York City, stamps denominated 1.70 francs are from the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, and €2.10 stamps are from the Vienna International Center in Vienna, Austria.

The four stamp designs are nearly identical across the three sheets. The stamp at the top of the strip shows Earth portrayed as greenery. Below that is a stamp with a peace dove, followed by one that combines a rainbow with a peace dove, and finally a butterfly stamp.

The UNPA explains what the designs represent in its bulletin for collectors titled Fascination (issue No. 148). The geometric forms on the Earth stamp “integrate human, architectural and community development,” the UNPA says, and the peace dove stamp focuses on human rights.

In the design of the third stamp, the rainbow and peace dove combination protects a growing plant, allowing for growth and development, the UNPA says, adding that communities cannot thrive without peace and safety. The butterfly is a “symbol of transformation and hope,” according to the UNPA.

While the United Nations was established on June 26, 1945, when representatives of 50 countries signed the Charter of the United Nations, the intergovernmental organization officially came into existence on Oct. 24, 1945, when the five permanent members of the Security Council and a majority of the other 46 nations ratified the Charter.

Over the past eight decades, the United Nations has grown from 51 founding members to 193. It has played a central role in maintaining peace and security around the world, from deploying its first peacekeeping mission to the Middle East in 1948 to operations in other conflict zones worldwide. The United Nations has also served as a platform for major international treaties, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 and the Paris Agreement on climate change in 2015.

Beyond diplomacy, the United Nations coordinates global humanitarian and development work through its specialized agencies. The World Health Organization, World Food Program and UNICEF have led efforts to fight disease, hunger and poverty. In recent years, the organization’s Sustainable Development Goals have focused on addressing inequality, climate change and access to education.

For the 80th anniversary of the U.N., Secretary-General Antonio Guterres launched the UN80 Initiative, a system-wide reform meant to ask and answer how the United Nations can adapt to become more agile, coordinated and effective.

“At a time of growing global crises and pressure on multilateralism,” the UNPA says, “the UN80 Initiative aims to reimagine how the United Nations delivers — not by doing less, but by doing better.”

The focus of reform proposals in the UNPA encompasses three areas: efficiencies and improvements, mandates implementation, and potential structural changes and program realignments.

Goals of the initiative include creating a United Nations that is more responsive, cost-effective, and accountable to taxpayers. More information on the UN80 Initiative can be found online at www.un.org/un80-initiative/en.

Nora Rosansky of the United Nations designed the souvenir sheets, and they were printed by Joh. Enschede of the Netherlands by offset lithography. The quantities printed are 10,000 sheets for each denomination.

Each stamp measures 40 millimeters by 30mm, and each sheet is 120mm by 165mm.

The UNPA also offers three official first-day covers, with each cover franked with one of the three sheets. The pictorial postmarks all show a design from the stamps: the butterfly on the postmark from the U.N. headquarters in New York City, the rainbow on the postmark from the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, and the dove on the postmark from the Vienna International Center in Vienna, Austria.

The Oct. 24 issue also includes a postcard.

For ordering information for these new stamps and related products, visit the website unstamps.org; email unpanyinquiries@un.org; telephone 212-963-7684 or 800-234-8672; or write to UNPA, Box 5900, Grand Central Station, New York, NY 10163-5900.

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