UNGEGN presents its proposals to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations.

It is supported by a Secretariat provided by the United Nations Statistics Division and a Bureau.

Officers of UNGEGN

• Chair:
  Mr. Pierre Jaillard (France), pierre@jaillard.net

• Vice-Chairs:
  Ms. Susan Birtles (Australia), Susan.Birtles@resources.qld.gov.au
  Mr. Sungjae Choo (Republic of Korea), sjchoo@khu.ac.kr

• Rapporteurs:
  Mr. Trent C. Palmer (USA), trent.c.palmer@nga.mil
  Ms. Wendy Shaw (New Zealand), wshaw@linz.govt.nz

Previous Chairs:

Ms. Meredith F. Burrill (USA, 1967-1977);

Mr. Josef Breu (Austria, 1977-1982);

Mr. Dirk Peter Blok (Netherlands, 1982-1987);

Mr. Henri Dorion (Canada, 1987-1991);

Mr. Peter E. Raper (South Africa, 1991-2002);

Ms. Helen Kerfoot (Canada, 2002-2012);

Mr. William Watt (Australia, 2012-2019).

Divisions

UNGENG is composed of experts from various linguistic/geographical divisions, established by the United Nations Conferences on the Standardization of Geographical Names. Each country is free to choose the division/s to which it belongs; some countries belong to more than one division.

In each division a Chairperson is chosen, among the members of the countries that belong to it, who is called to stimulate the normalization activities of the geographical names within his own division, through technical meetings, correspondence, etc.

Currently 24 divisions guide the work of UNGENG during and between sessions:

1. Africa Central Division

2. Africa East Division

3. Africa South Division

4. Africa West Division

5. Arabic Division

6. Asia East Division (other than China)

7. Asia South-East and Pacific South-West Division

8. Asia South-West Division (other than Arabic)

9. Baltic Division

10. Celtic Division

11. China Division

12. Dutch- and German-speaking Division

13. East Central and South-East Europe Division

14. Eastern Europe, Northern and Central Asia Division

15. East Mediterranean Division (other than Arabic)

16. French-speaking Division

17. India Division

18. Latin America Division

19. Norden Division

20. Pacific South-West Division

21. Portuguese-speaking Division

22. Romano-Hellenic Division

23. United Kingdom Division

24. USA/Canada Division.

Working Groups

Within the framework of UNGENG, several working groups have been created to follow topics and problems transversal to the divisional structure. Furthermore, UNGENG has a Task Team for Africa and coordination for the development of toponymic guidelines.

1. Working Group on Country Names

2. Working Group on Geographical Names Data Management

3. Working Group on Toponymic Terminology

4. Working Group on Publicity and Funding

5. Working Group on Romanization Systems

6. Working Group on Training Courses in Toponymy

7. Working Group on Evaluation and Implementation

8. Working Group on Exonyms

9. Working Group on Geographical Names as Cultural Heritage.