OxBlog

# Posted 6:45 PM by Patrick Belton

CAN YOU SMOKE IN THE UN CAFETARIA? According to this article, no - but New York cops can't stop you. Under the 1947 headquarters agreement (the article gets the year wrong), unless explicitly stated otherwise in the agreement, the federal, state, and city laws that apply to the rest of New York also apply to the Headquarters District - but American police officials can't enter the UN to enforce them. (An exception is that they can enter on the Secretary-General's invitation, which is contemplated in emergency situations to maintain law and order within the district).

So you can smoke a camel with your coffee, or even a Cuban in the cafeteria, there on the East River? If you're okay with violating unenforceable New York City regulations, well, sure - assuming the UN hasn't enacted a law for the Headquarters District. And in fact, Secretary General Annan tried to do so by decretal authority, but diplomats accredited to the United Nations protested that only the General Assembly had lawmaking competence for the Headquarters District. Indeed, the current, though disputed, dominant sense does seem to be that only the General Assembly, and not Secretary-General Annan, could outlaw cigarettes within the Secretariat building - and given how difficult it is to get the General Assembly to do anything, you can probably rest assured in the confidence that at the UN for a long while you will be able to smoke your stogies to your heart's content.

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