UN Emoji & Symbols

Yes, there is a UN flag emoji: 🇺🇳. This flag emoji is a sequence of two regional indicator letters, 🇺 + 🇳 (U+1F1FA U+1F1F3). UN is not a country code; ISO 3166 keeps it "exceptionally reserved" for the United Nations, and that is why the UN, like the European Union 🇪🇺, has a flag among the countries. iPhone, Android and Mac draw the pair as the light blue flag. Windows has no flag pictures in its emoji font and shows the letters UN instead, but the text is the same, and whoever reads your message on a phone sees 🇺🇳.

The flag shows the UN emblem in white on a light blue field. The emblem, approved by the General Assembly on 7 December 1946, is a map of the world drawn as if seen from above the North Pole, crossed by meridians and rings of latitude, and framed by two olive branches, the old sign of peace. The flag itself followed on 20 October 1947. The map shows every inhabited continent and no country is at its centre; it reaches only to 60° south, so Antarctica, which belongs to no state, is left off.

There is no emoji of the emblem itself, so people build it: 🌐 is the globe with meridians, 🌍🌎🌏 the globe turned to your side of the world, 🗺️ the map, 🫒🌿 the olive branches. For the colour, the light blue known as UN blue, 🩵 is closest; 💙🔵🟦 are darker but read the same next to 🇺🇳.

United Nations symbols and their meaning: peace, the dove and the bell

Asked for the United Nations symbol of peace, many people reach for 🕊️: the dove with an olive branch is an old symbol of peace, and the UN emblem is framed by olive branches too. ☮️ is also popular, but it is not a UN sign: Gerald Holtom designed it in 1958 for the British Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, combining the flag-semaphore letters N and D. ✌️ and 🏳️, the white flag of truce, complete the set, and 🤝 and 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 stand for the idea in the UN's name, nations working together.

🔔 is the Japanese Peace Bell at UN Headquarters in New York, cast from coins and medals given by people from many countries and presented by the UN Association of Japan in 1954. It is rung for the International Day of Peace and at the spring equinox. 🏅 is for the Nobel Peace Prizes the UN family has won: the UN and its Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2001, the peacekeeping forces in 1988, the refugee agency UNHCR in 1954 and 1981, UNICEF in 1965, the International Labour Organization in 1969, the atomic energy agency IAEA in 2005 and the World Food Programme in 2020.

How the UN works, in emoji: Assembly, Security Council, Charter

The UN was founded when its Charter 📜 came into force on 24 October 1945, after 50 countries had signed it ✍️ in San Francisco on 26 June; Poland signed later as the 51st founding member. Today there are 193 member states, the newest being South Sudan 🇸🇸, which joined in 2011. The Holy See 🇻🇦 and the State of Palestine 🇵🇸 take part as non-member observer states. The flags of all of them are in the Flags collection, and each country has its own collection with its food, landmarks and letters.

In the General Assembly 🏛️🗳️ every member has one vote, and each September world leaders come to New York for the general debate, the busy week people call UNGA. The President of the Assembly opens and closes meetings with a gavel, so 🔨 is the usual stand-in. The Security Council has 15 members: ten elected for two years and five permanent ones, 🇨🇳 China, 🇫🇷 France, 🇷🇺 Russia, 🇬🇧 the United Kingdom and 🇺🇸 the United States, each of which can veto a substantive decision ❌; every decision needs at least nine affirmative votes ✅. Russia took over the Soviet Union's seat in 1991, and the People's Republic of China has held China's seat since 1971.

🏢🗽 is the Secretariat, the glass tower on Manhattan's East River, built on land bought with a gift of 8.5 million dollars from John D. Rockefeller Jr. and designed by an international team that included Le Corbusier and Oscar Niemeyer. ⚖️🇳🇱 is the International Court of Justice, which sits in the Peace Palace in The Hague. Large UN offices are also in Geneva 🇨🇭, Vienna 🇦🇹 and Nairobi 🇰🇪, and the food agencies are in Rome 🇮🇹.

The UN has six official languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish, each with its own collection here. Speeches in any of the six official languages are interpreted simultaneously into the other five, which is why every delegate's desk has headphones 🎧 next to the microphone; 🗣️🎧 says it in emoji.

Blue helmets and UN agencies emoji

🪖 is the emoji for UN peacekeepers, the blue helmets and blue berets lent by member states to keep ceasefires, protect civilians and help countries out of war. The first armed mission was sent to the Sinai in 1956 during the Suez Crisis. 🛡️ and 🚁 (UN helicopters are painted white with black UN letters) go with it, and 🎖️ is the UN Medal that peacekeepers receive for their service. 🇺🇳🪖💙 is how families post about a son or daughter on mission.

The UN's specialised agencies and programmes have no emoji of their own, so the grid gives each one that fits. The World Health Organization's emblem is the rod of Asclepius ⚕️ laid over the UN emblem; its vaccination campaign 💉 ended smallpox, declared eradicated in 1980, and 🏥🦠 cover hospitals and outbreaks. UNICEF, founded in 1946 for the children of post-war Europe, is 🧒🍼. The World Food Programme brings food aid by 📦 and 🚚, and the Food and Agriculture Organization works with farmers 🧑‍🌾 and harvests 🌾. UNHCR, the refugee agency, is ⛺🧳, UNESCO with its schools and World Heritage list 🏫📚, and the IAEA in Vienna, which checks that nuclear material is used peacefully, ⚛️☢️.

Some agencies are older than the UN itself. The International Telecommunication Union 📡 dates from 1865 and the Universal Postal Union ✉️ from 1874; both later became part of the UN system. ✈️ and 🚢 are the civil aviation and maritime organisations ICAO and IMO, 🌦️ the World Meteorological Organization, and ♻️🌱 the UN Environment Programme in Nairobi.

SDG emoji: the 17 Sustainable Development Goals

In September 2015 all UN members adopted the Sustainable Development Goals, 17 goals with 169 targets to reach by 2030. Each goal has an official coloured icon, but there are no SDG emoji, so the grid offers one per goal, in order: 👪 1 No poverty, 🍲 2 Zero hunger, 🩺 3 Good health and well-being, 📖 4 Quality education, ♀️ 5 Gender equality, 🚰 6 Clean water and sanitation, 💡 7 Affordable and clean energy, 📈 8 Decent work and economic growth, 🏗️ 9 Industry, innovation and infrastructure, 🟰 10 Reduced inequalities, 🏙️ 11 Sustainable cities and communities, ♾️ 12 Responsible consumption and production, 🌡️ 13 Climate action, 🐟 14 Life below water, 🌳 15 Life on land, 🧑‍⚖️ 16 Peace, justice and strong institutions, 🔗 17 Partnerships for the goals.

Some follow the official icons: goal 12's icon is an infinity loop like ♾️, goal 2's a steaming bowl, goal 14's a fish under waves. Paste the whole row, 👪🍲🩺📖♀️🚰💡📈🏗️🟰🏙️♾️🌡️🐟🌳🧑‍⚖️🔗, into a school project or an NGO post, or pick the one your work is about and tag it with its number, for example ♀️ SDG 5.

UN Day, international days and Model UN emoji

UN Day is 24 October, the day the Charter came into force; people post 🇺🇳🎉 or 🇺🇳🌍🤝. The UN keeps a calendar 📅 of international days; here are fitting emoji for some of them: the International Day of Peace on 21 September 🕊️🔔, Human Rights Day on 10 December 📜, the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted in Paris in 1948, International Women's Day on 8 March ♀️, World Health Day on 7 April ⚕️, World Environment Day on 5 June 🌱, World Refugee Day on 20 June ⛺, and World Food Day on 16 October 🌾.

Model UN, where students play delegates of real countries and debate in simulated committees, has its own emoji kit. 🪧 is the country placard a delegate raises to speak or vote, 🙋 a point or motion, 🎤📝 the speech and the position paper, 💼👔 the formal business attire conferences usually ask for, and 🏆 the Best Delegate award. Delegates put 🇺🇳 together with the flag of the country they represent, for example 🇺🇳🇧🇷 or 🇺🇳🇯🇵, in a bio or group chat name.

The UN has no currency. Its budget is set in US dollars $ 💵, and the UN Postal Administration issues its own stamps ✉️, valid only for mail posted at UN offices: in US dollars in New York, Swiss francs in Geneva and euros € in Vienna.