GENEVA, May 7 - When in 1937 the League of Nations vacated the 225-room Palais Wilson in Geneva, the global intergovernmental body created to preserve peace after World War One was on its last legs. It died soon afterwards with World War Two.

This summer the League's successor, the United Nations, is set to abandon the same building as it and other global bodies in the Swiss city are increasingly sidelined by funding cuts and a U.S. government that is turning its back on multilateralism.

Since 2025, over 3,000 Geneva-based jobs at the U.N. and international organisations have been cut or are transferring to cheaper locations, including about a fifth of U.N. posts, a Reuters survey of a dozen agencies and local authorities showed.

The U.N. human rights arm, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, is moving from the Palais Wilson to a wing of Geneva's U.N. headquarters at the nearby Palais des Nations, amid what it calls a "financial crisis".

The International Labour Organization recently exited two of the 11 floors at its Geneva base. UNICEF, the U.N. agency for children's welfare, is transferring some 70% of its 400 staff from Geneva.

Some Geneva-based agencies, such as UNAIDS, dedicated to tackling HIV/AIDS, are facing possible closure; many more are downsizing.

These include the International Organization for Migration, which has reduced its Geneva staff to about 600 from 1,000, shifting jobs to Thessaloniki in Greece, Nairobi, Bangkok, and Panama as it cut its global headcount to 16,000 from 23,000.

"I don't think we need a huge footprint in Geneva to do the job well," said IOM director general Amy Pope.

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Switzerland has pledged 269 million Swiss francs ($340 million) to support multilateral institutions in the city, while a body established by the canton of Geneva and a foundation named after the founder of Rolex, Hans Wilsdorf, have jointly promised at least 50 million francs.

Geneva's mayor, Green Party ...