The Romano-Hellenic Division is one of 24 linguistic/geographic divisions of the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN).

The UNGEGN is one of nine standing expert bodies of experts of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, which provide a forum to encourage national and international geographical names standardization; to promote the international dissemination of nationally standardized geographical names information; and to adopt single Romanization systems for the conversion of each non-Roman writing system to the Roman alphabet.

Some historical information

The Division was created during the second United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names, held in London from 10^th to 31^st May 1972. It was the sixth of the first 14 divisions of the UNGEGN, created with the original name “Division of Languages Romance other than Latin-American”, later changed to the present one.

After the first years of activity, during the meeting held in Paris, from 28^th to 29^th April 1994, the Division decided the creation of a “Bulletin de liaison” with the aim of informing all member countries that not participated in the meetings about the actions and developments made in the standardization process of place names and to collect and disseminate information in this regard, within the Division.

At the 18^th Session of UNGEGN, held in Geneva from 12^th to 23^rd August 1996, two Member States of the Romano-Hellenic Division, France and Canada, proposed the creation of a new linguistic/geographic division within the Group of Experts, that would gather all French-speaking countries. From this proposal, on the occasion of the 7^th Conference for Standardization of Geographical Names, held in New York, from 13^th to 22^nd January 1998, it was born the French-speaking Division.

At the 23^rd Session of UNGEGN, held in Vienna from 28^th March to 4^th April 2006, the composition of the Romano-Hellenic Division has also been extended, following the request to join the group by the Principality of Andorra

From its constitution the Division was chaired by:

• Mr. Jean Ramondou, from the National Geographic Institute of France, National Commission of Toponymy (1972 – 1990);
• M.me Sylvie Lejeune, from the National Geographic Institute of France, National Commission of Toponymy (1990 – 2000);
• Mr. Salvatore Arca, from the Italian Geographic Military Institute, Geodesy, Topography and Cartography School (2000 – 2011);
• Mr. Gennaro Afeltra, from the Italian Geographic Military Institute, Department of Geographical Information (2011 – 2014).

Composition and tasks

Today, the Division consists of the following sixteen countries: Andorra, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, France, Greece, Vatican City, Italy, Luxembourg, Moldova, Monaco, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Switzerland and Turkey.

The primary task of the Division is to support the achievement of general objectives assigned to the UNGEGN and, in particular, to spread, among the member states, the importance of standardization of geographical names at the national and international level, show its benefits and assist in the process of standardization of geographical names countries where this process found to be deficient. To this end, it operates in order to facilitate discussion of the results of the national standardization process, encouraging the exchange of experiences and disseminate good practices for the standardization of geographical names.

The Division will normally meet on the occasion of the UNGEGN Sessions and it yearly organizes preparatory meetings, symposia and conferences on issues related to national and international standardization of geographical names.

The RHD is headed by a Chairperson, which is responsible for coordination of activities and representation of the Division. Today the Division is chaired by Andrea Cantile (Italia).