 |  | 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 |
| 2006-11 | Member of the Board 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) |
| 2012 | Honorary Chair of the Foundation for the Future, Amman (Jordan) |
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 |
| 2011 | Prix de la Tolérance Marcel Rudloff, Strasbourg |
| 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
- 21 March 2012
Sergio Vieira de Mello Memorial Lecture, Geneva, Mondialisation des responsabilités : le rôle de la société civile dans la prévention des conflits French PDF 227KB - 7 December 2011
Foundation for the Future, Amman, End of Sommaruga's Chairmanship PDF 90KB - 17 November 2011
Università di Milano-Bicocca, Il Comitato internazionale della Croce Rossa nel mondo di oggi – Da 150 anni istituzione privata con mandato internazionale Italian PDF 238KB - 15 September 2011
Ecole de Culture Générale Henry Dunant, A vous de jouer - étique et valeurs en action French PDF 463KB - 12 September 2011
Comunità di Sant-Egidio, Tavola rotonda, La preghiera alla radice della pace Italian PDF 186KB
- 3 July 2011
Initiatives et Changement, Rencontres de Caux 2011, Allocution d'ouverture PDF 452KB
- 11 March 2011
Prix de la Tolérance Marcel Rudloff 2011, Strasbourg, Allocution | French PDF 532KB - 18 December 2010
Appel Spirituel de Genève, Cérémonie 2010, Ensemble et Confiants | French PDF 72KB - 28 September 2010
Troisième séminaire des pays africains francophones, Mauritanie, Le désarmement humanitaire | French PDF 166KB - 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 - 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 - 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 - 18 September 2007
10th Anniversary of the 1997 Mine Ban Convention, Oslo PDF 13KB - 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
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