联合国欧洲总部设在瑞士名城日内瓦，每年有无数的国际会议在这里召开，众多的联合国决议在这里通过，作为东道国的瑞士能维持其永久中立的状态而一直不加入联合国吗？

The History of Neutrality

In 1919, despite competition from Belgium and the Netherlands, Geneva was chosen as the site of the headquarters of the newly created League of Nations.1 The decisive factors in this choice were Switzerland's neutral status and the fact that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was already based in Geneva.

On 16 May 1920, the Swiss men voted in favour of Switzerland joining the League of Nations after a close-run referendum2. Yet a large number of them condemned the League of Nations for its function, opposed membership. Therefore, Switzerland was allowed to maintain its neutrality to some extent in that it was not required to take part in military sanctions3 against any violators of the peace.

On the other hand, however, it had to declare itself willing to support economicsanctions. This put Switzerland in an awkward position in 1935 when the League of Nations attempted to stop Italy from invading Ethiopia4; Switzerland placed an embargo on trade with both Italy and Ethiopia before returning in 1938 to its original position of an integral, rather than a differentiated, neutrality.5

Long Road to Joining UN

Switzerland did not join the UN when it was created in 1945, and the Swiss repeatedly heeded warnings from opponents that centuries of neutrality would be undermined6 if they did.

By 1967, National Councillor7 Willy Bretscher led an initiative aimed at a rapprochement8 with the UN and possible membership, but Swiss voters and all the members of the Council of States rejected UN membership with a surprisingly clear majority of "No" votes — around 76%. The arguments in favour of membership were essentially the same as those which — 15 years later — are now being put forward
again: "lack of solidarity / isolationism" and lack of involvement in decision-making. The opponents of membership considered that the work done by the UN was both inefficient and excessively expensive, and felt that Switzerland's neutrality would be put at risk as a result of membership.

Interestedly, Switzerland has long been a member of numerous UN agencies — many of them based in the western Swiss City of Geneva and also taken part in UN programs and been a party to many UN conventions. But the government worried that neutrality would change in nature and Switzerland's image would suffer, so it continued to stay out of the 189-member world body.

In 2000, after shunning the United Nations for the first half-century of its existence, staunchly9 neutral Switzerland formally submitted its application for membership to the world body, along with a gentle reminder about its historic status. Federal Councillor Deiss announced that he still intended to hold a referendum on UN membership even if the initiative were to fail. He believed that membership of the UN would be a step forward towards other "openings", in particular for the EU membership favoured by the Federal Council. Supporters of the initiative also talk about UN membership in terms of an "intermediate step" and of a "soft form of integration".

In June 2002, Switzerland officially joined the United Nations finally. The traditionally neutral country became the 190th member of the world body, after its residents narrowly approved the move in a referendum earlier.

Member of Non-Political UN Bodies

In truth, Switzerland has been an active, dues-paying10 member of the UN's so-called 'non-political' institutions since 1948 — like the World Health Organization, the UN Refugee Agency or the World Meteorological Organization.11

"There are other neutral UN members, but it was necessary to say so clearly to show the Swiss population that neutrality will not be affected," foreign ministry spokeswoman Muriel Berset Cohen said.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is more than pleased about the Swiss finally biting the bullet12 — not only because it means extra money for the cash-strapped13UN, but also because with Switzerland as the 190th member state, the UN will finally be a truly universal world body, when East Timor14 joins later.

"Switzerland is in many ways a vivid example of what the United Nations stands for — a tolerant, peaceful and multicultural society built on democratic values," the secretary-general said.

Although it has become the 190th member, Switzerland would be the only country in the world body whose membership was directly backed by a majority of its people, according to UN officials. While most UN members have at best had accession ratified by parliaments.

Swiss Rebirth

By and large, the Swiss seem to be happy as well that they're no longer the world's odd man out.15 All the media front-pages depict the big event today as a sortof rebirth of the nation. Lavish receptions were held in Bern and New York and there was a big open-air party in central Geneva，where President Villiger's accession speech at the General Assembly was shown live on an enormous screen.

In a special ceremony the Swiss flag has been hoisted among the colours of the other 189 member states at UN headquarters in New York and the Palais des Nations16 in Geneva. Not to be outdone, Geneva's city fathers have commissioned the biggest United Nations flag ever made, which will flutter a whole week from the steeple of Calvin's 16th century cathedral17 dominating the city.

1．1919年，虽然有来自比利时和荷兰的竞争，日内瓦最终被选为新近建立的国际联盟的总部所在地。League of Nations：国际联盟（第一次世界大战后根据凡尔赛和约于1920年建立的国际组织，1945年解散）。

2．指公民投票结果很接近。

3．sanction：制裁。

4．Ethiopia：埃塞俄比亚（非洲东部国家）。

5．瑞士对意大利和埃塞俄比亚两国都实施贸易禁运，直到1938年它又回复到完全、而非有差别的中立状态。

6．undermine：破坏，损坏。

7．National Councillor: 指联邦委员。瑞士政体为委员会制，瑞士政府（联邦委员会）引导议会的立法工作。瑞士政体区别于总统制或内阁制的特点有两个：第一，其政府成员平等地分享决策权，实行集体领导；第二，议会无权对政府表示不信任以推翻之，政府也无权解散议会。

8．rapprochement：（关系上的）和睦，亲善。

9．staunchly：坚定地。

10．dues-paying：缴纳会费的。

11．分别为世界卫生组织，联合国难民署和世界气象组织。

12．bite the bullet：勇敢地行动。

13．cash-strapped：银根很紧的，资金缺乏的。

14．East Timor：东帝汶（位于东南亚）。

15．odd man out：剩下的人（或物），与集体不合的人（或物）。

16．Palais des Nations：万国宫。

17．16世纪宗教改革的浪潮中，法国神学者加尔文把日内瓦变成新教的堡垒，并于1541年被日内瓦人接受为精神领袖，其他地方的新教派也都奔向日内瓦。