TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A piece of content claiming that the United Nations will move its headquarters to Indonesia was shared by social media accounts on TikTok [archive] and Facebook on January 10, 2026.
The content featured a photo of President Prabowo shaking hands with UN Secretary-General António Guterres. The content spread a narrative that the UN Secretary-General was interested in relocating the headquarters from New York to Indonesia. The uploader claimed this planned move was a consequence of the United States' withdrawal from the UN.
So, is it true that the UN will move its headquarters to Indonesia after the US leaves the organization?
FACT CHECK
Tempo verified the content using a reverse image search and compared it with reliable sources. The results showed that the UN will not move its headquarters to Indonesia.
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Yvonne Mewengkang confirmed that the claim was false. "This information is false and baseless. There has been no discussion that the UN will move its offices to Indonesia," Yvonne told Tempo on Tuesday, January 20, 2026.
American political observer Didin Nasirudin noted that the current discourse involves relocating offices of several UN agencies, such as UNICEF, UN Women, and UNFPA, from New York City to Nairobi, Kenya, in 2026.
The Indonesian government is among the nations supporting this discourse. "However, it is still in the discussion stage and has not yet been officially decided," Didin told Tempo on Tuesday, January 20, 2026.
The drastic cuts in humanitarian funding by the United States government under Donald Trump were the primary trigger for this discourse. Washington reduced its support from US$10 billion to just US$2 billion in 2026. This figure is a sharp drop compared to US funding to the UN in 2022, which reached US$18 billion.
This relocation plan aims to reduce operational costs, as New York remains one of the most expensive cities in the world, both for office rent and employee living costs. Currently, the UN maintains three main offices outside New York: Geneva (Switzerland), Nairobi (Kenya), and Vienna (Austria). In addition, five Regional Economic Commissions are located in Addis Ababa, Bangkok, Beirut, Geneva, and Santiago.
Visual Verification
This photo of President Prabowo Subianto shaking hands with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was taken during a bilateral meeting at the UN Secretariat Building in New York, United States, on Monday, September 22, 2025.
The meeting took place after President Prabowo delivered a speech at the High-Level International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Palestinian Question and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution.
The YouTube accounts of the Presidential Secretariat, tvOneNews, and Garuda TV uploaded a video of the meeting on September 23-24, 2025. The meeting did not include any discussion regarding plans to move the UN office to Indonesia.
US Withdraws from 66 International Organizations
The narrative regarding the United States' withdrawal from the United Nations emerged alongside President Donald Trump's policy of exiting various international organizations, conventions, and treaties. In a press release on January 7, 2026, Trump terminated the United States membership in 66 international organizations. He deemed American participation in these institutions wasteful, ineffective, and detrimental to national interests.
The Trump administration accused these institutions of mismanagement, lack of urgency, poor governance, and conflict with the United States' agenda. The list of affected organizations, as outlined in a Presidential Memorandum, includes 35 non-UN organizations and 31 UN entities. Some of the affected agencies include the Global Counterterrorism Forum, the International Energy Forum, the UN Peacebuilding Fund, and the UN International Trade Centre.
CONCLUSION
Based on the results of this investigation, the Tempo Fact-Checking Team concluded that the claims suggesting the UN will move its office to Indonesia and that the US has withdrawn from the UN are false.
TEMPO FACT CHECK TEAM
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