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Dr. Cornelio SOMMARUGA

Position Honorary President

Email
cornelio.sommaruga(at)bluewin.ch

Working Languages English, French, German, Italian

Biography

1932

Born in Rome, as son of Swiss parents from Lugano (Ticino/Switzerland)
Schools in Rome and Lugano, High School diploma in literature and humanities
Studies at the Universities of Zurich, Paris and Rome

1957

Graduated with a doctorate in law from the University of Zurich (magna cum laude)

1957-59

Banking in Zurich

1960-68

Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs (diplomatic posts at The Hague, Bonn, Rome)

1969-73

Deputy Head of the Swiss Delegation to EFTA, GATT, UNCTAD and ECE/UN in Geneva

1973-75

Deputy Secretary General of EFTA in Geneva

1976-83

Federal Office for External Economic Affairs in Berne (Minister plenipotentiary, Ambassador, Delegate of the Swiss Government for Trade Agreements)

1984-86

State Secretary for External Economic Affairs in Berne

1987-99

President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Geneva

2000

Honorary Member of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)

2000

Member of the Panel on UN Peace Operations

2000-01

Member of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS)

2000-07

Chairman of the Karl Popper Foundation, Zug

2000-07

Member of the Board of the Open Society Institute, Budapest (Hungary)

2000-07

President, then member, of the Council of the Swiss Foundation Caux - Initiatives of Change

2000-08

President of the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD)

2000-09

Member of the Board of the Accentus Foundation, Zurich

2004-05

President of the Graduate Institute for International Studies, Geneva

2006-09

Chairman of the Board of the International Cancer Foundation, Geneva

2006

Vice Chairman of the Foundation for the Future, Amman (Jordan)

2007

Honorary Chair of the International Association Initiatives of Change, Caux (Switzerland)

2008

Honorary Chair of the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD)

Honorary Doctorates 

University of Fribourg (Switzerland), 1985; University of Minho, Braga (Portugal), 1990; University of Bologna (Italy), 1991; University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis (France), 1992; Seoul National University (Republic of Korea), 1992; University of Geneva (Switzerland), 1997; Webster University of Saint Louis (USA), 1998; Università dell’Insubria, Como (Italy) 2008.   

Presidential Awards 

University of Tel Aviv (Israel); Comenius University, Bratislava (Slovakia); Karl's University, Prague (Czech Republic); Dr. Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award, Tufts University, Boston (USA), 2003; University for Peace, San José (Costarica), 2009.

1996

Prize of the International Human Rights Society, Berne

2001

North - South Prize of the Council of Europe

2003

Prize of the Foreign Press Association in Switzerland for the most popular Swiss personality

2008

Prize of the Cardinal Van Thuàn Foundation of the Pontifical Council Justitia et Pace, Vatican

 

2009

Henry Dunant Medal of the International Red Cross Red Crescent Movement, Nairobi

     

       

1977-78

President of the UN Economic Commission for Europe

1982-84

Co-Chairman of the Commissione consultiva culturale Italo-Svizzera


State Decorations of Belgium, France, Holy See, Italy, Iceland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Sweden

Red Cross and Red Crescent Awards from numerous National Societies

Married, four daughters, two sons, 16 grandchildren.

Conferences and publications

  • 18 May 2010
    XXe anniversaire du Centre Nord-Sud du Conseil de l'Europe, La gouvernance démocratique de la diversité culturelle French PDF 106KB
  • 25 March 2010
    Célébration du 10e anniversaire de l'Appel de Genève
    French PDF 89KB
  • 18 February 2010
    Académie de droit international humanitaire et droits humains, Prix Cassese 2010, Introductory Speech English, French PDF 102KB
  • 10 February 2010
    Rotary Club Bellinzona, La Sfida permanente del rispetto del Diritto internazionale umanitario Italian PDF 185KB
  • 19 January 2010
    Martedi Letterari di Sanremo, La Svizzera Umanitaria e la Riviera dei Fiori Italian PDF 78KB
  • 4 December 2009
    Contre le règne de l'exclusion - pour le respect des identités French PDF 78KB | German PDF 89KB | Italian PDF 106KB
  • 25 November 2009
    NATO Defense College, Rome Humanitarian Intervention and the Responsibility to Protect PDF 142KB
  • 28 July 2009
    Regione Mesolcina Croce Rossa: Sinonimo di solidarietà e responsabilità Italian PDF 133KB
  • 9 July 2009
    Initiatives of Change, Caux Trust and integrity for a SUSTAINABLE WORLD PDF 75KB
  • 12 February 2009
    University for Peace, San José de Costarica Globalizing Responsibilities towards a Culture of Security and Peace PDF 64KB
  • 24 June 2008
    Forum Suisse de Politique Internationale, Colloque Edouard Brunner Le blocage des fonds Marcos en Suisse (1986) French PDF 15KB
  • 29 November 2007
    One Day Symposium on Landmines to Mark the 10th Anniversary of the Signing of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention The Oslo/Ottawa Convention on the Prohibition of Anti-Personnel Mines, A Model for a New Active Peace Policy? PDF 118KB
  • 18 September 2007
    10th Anniversary of the 1997 Mine Ban Convention, Oslo PDF 13KB
  • 8 September 2007
    Assemblée des délégués du mouvement scout de Suisse Responsabilité et solidarité: Parties intégrantes de l'aventure scout au XXIème sciècle French PDF 28KB 
  • 13 November 2006
    Intervention to the Third Review Conference of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, Special Plenary Meeting to Mark the Entry into Force of CCW Protocol V PDF 80KB
  • 2 June 2006
    Otto Karrer-Vorlesung 2006 Globalisierung der Verantwortung - Mehr Menschlichkeit für die Menschheit German PDF 57KB 
  • 29 April 2006
    Journée de Penthes 2006 L'image de la Suisse dans le monde - états, problèmes, nouvelles pistes ? Une Suisse vertueuse ? - l'humanitaire comme facteur de mise en valeur French PDF 24KB