GENEVA, May 7 (Reuters) - The League of Nations, set up to maintain peace after World War I, was in its death throes when it vacated the Wilson Palace in Geneva in 1937. Its existence ended with the outbreak of World War II.

Its successor, the United Nations, is scheduled to vacate the same building this summer after it and other global bodies in the Swiss city became increasingly marginalized as a result of funding cuts and the US government's abandonment of multilateralism.

A Reuters survey of dozens of agencies and local authorities showed that more than 3,000 jobs at the United Nations and international organizations in Geneva have been eliminated or moved to cheaper locations since 2025, including about one-fifth of UN jobs.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights is moving from the Wilson Palace to a wing at the United Nations headquarters in the nearby Palais des Nations in Geneva due to what it described as a "financial crisis".

The International Labour Organization recently vacated two of the 11 floors of its headquarters in Geneva.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) relocates about 70 percent of its 400 staff from Geneva.

Some agencies in Geneva, such as the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), are facing the prospect of closure.

Many other agencies are downsizing, such as the International Organization for Migration, which has reduced its staff in Geneva from 1,000 to about 600, moved staff to Thessaloniki in Greece, Nairobi in Kenya, Bangkok in Thailand and Panama, and reduced its global workforce from 23,000 to 16,000.

This funding cut is the most severe in the United Nations' 80-year history, and it is unclear whether the United States will pay more than $2 billion in dues owed in the core budget.

Other donor countries have reduced their contributions to increase defense spending, exacerbating the situation in Geneva, where the United Nations offices occupy an area the size of Vatican City, centered around the Palais des Nations, a huge complex originally built for the League of Nations.

Many see austerity as a long-overdue correction to an oversized bureaucratic environment.

United Nations data shows that its international staff, who are exempt from Swiss taxes, receive an 89.4 percent increase in their basic salaries due to the rising cost of living. Many also receive spousal and education allowances.

But diplomats and current and former United Nations officials warn that emptying Geneva would mean dismantling the most enduring symbol of the international order built by the United States to maintain peace after World War II.

Internal documents show that the United Nations is moving towards a smaller but more fragmented model, with Kazakhstan, Qatar, Rwanda and other countries competing to host the global organization's offices.