SG/A/995
AFR/1366
BIO/3755
21 April 2006

Biographical Note

Secretary-General Appoints Gérard Stoudmann of Switzerland High Representative for Elections in Côte d'Ivoire

NEW YORK, 20 April (UN Headquarters) -- On 13 April, the Security Council took note of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's intention to appoint Gérard Stoudmann as his High Representative for elections in Côte d'Ivoire.

Mr. Stoudmann studied law at the University of Lausanne and International Relations at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva.  In 1977, he joined the Swiss Ministry of Defence, working on policy planning and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) issues.  In 1981, he moved to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, working in the Service for Economic and Financial Matters.

In 1982, he joined the Swiss Mission to the European Commission in Brussels.  Between 1983 and 1987, he was a member of the Swiss Delegation to the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) and a CSCE desk officer in Bern.  In 1987, he served as Deputy Head of the Swiss Representation to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg.  From 1989 to 1993, he was Personal Adviser to Federal Councillor Jean-Pascal Delamuraz, President of the Swiss Confederation and Minister of Economy, working on Swiss policy in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) Uruguay Round and Swiss relations with the European Community, including negotiations on the European Economic Area.

In 1993, Mr. Stoudmann moved to the private sector as Managing Director of the Saint Gallen Foundation for International Studies, University of Saint Gallen and of the "Saint Gallen International Management Symposium".

In 1995, Mr. Stoudmann returned to the public sector as Deputy Head of the Swiss Delegation to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Vienna.  In 1997, he was appointed Ambassador and elected Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights in Warsaw.  There, he developed the institution's pre-eminence in election assistance and observation throughout the OSCE area, democratization programmes, human rights monitoring and reporting, and the organization of diplomatic conferences on sensitive human rights issues.

In 2002, the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, in agreement with the Federal Department of Defence, nominated Mr. Stoudmann as Director of the Geneva Centre for Security Policy.

Mr. Stoudmann was born on 23 November 1951.

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