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Article 22 of Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations 1961 states this about countries' embassies:

  1. The premises of the mission shall be inviolable. The agents of the receiving State may not enter them, except with the consent of the head of the mission.

  2. The receiving State is under a special duty to take all appropriate steps to protect the premises of the mission against any intrusion or damage and to prevent any disturbance of the peace of the mission or impairment of its dignity.

  3. The premises of the mission, their furnishings and other property thereon and the means of transport of the mission shall be immune from search, requisition, attachment or execution

Does this apply to UN headquarters in New York City?

Does this apply to other UN buildings around the world?

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    The Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations is probably the more relevant document. See Article 2, section 3: "The premises of the United Nations shall be inviolable. The property and assets of the United Nations, wherever located and by whomsoever held, shall be immune from search, requisition, confiscation, expropriation and any other form of interference, whether by executive, administrative, judicial or legislative action."
    – yannis
    Commented Mar 28, 2018 at 14:37
  • @yannis - is that a binding treaty?
    – user4012
    Commented Mar 28, 2018 at 16:00

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I suspect the Vienna Convention may not apply to the UN Headquarters. However the UN Headquarters Agreement unsurprisingly does, and this treaty contains some specific language which amounts to much the same thing as the conditions you quote, applied to the whole headquarters district.

Section 9(a) The headquarters district shall be inviolable. Federal, state or local officers or officials of the United States, whether administrative, judicial, military or police, shall not enter the headquarters district to perform any official duties therein except with the consent of and under conditions agreed to by the Secretary-General. The service of legal process, including the seizure of private property, may take place within the headquarters district only with the consent of and under conditions approved by the Secretary-General.

Section 16 (a) The appropriate American authorities shall exercise due diligence to ensure that the tranquility of the headquarters district is not disturbed by the unauthorized entry of groups of persons from outside or by disturbances in its immediate vicinity and shall cause to be provided on the boundaries of the headquarters district such police protection as is required for these purposes.

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  • Unsurprisingly indeed :-) -- there is also the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations, which the HQ explicitly mentions as "complementary" except in cases of direct conflict, in which case the HQ agreement prevails.
    – phoog
    Commented Jan 17 at 11:07

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