Oral history interview with Cornelio Sommaruga, 2001
Oral history interview with Cornelio Sommaruga, 2001
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- Name
- Sommaruga, Cornelio, 1932- (Interviewee)
- Weiss, Thomas G. (Thomas George), 1946- (Interviewer)
- Title
- Oral history interview with Cornelio Sommaruga, 2001
- Abstract
- Early years: born and raised in Rome, Italy; student at Universities of Zurich, Paris, and Rome; student of public international law; captain in Swiss army; Career: 1960-1986 diplomat of the Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs; state secretary for external economic affairs; 1969 deputy representative to UN Conference On Trade and Development (UNCTAD); Assistant-secretary-general of European Free T rade Association (EFTA); president of Economic Commission for Europe; 1987-1999 president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC); 2000 president of the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining and of the International Association Initiatives of Change; member of the High-level Panel on United Nations Peacekeeping Operations and of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty; Themes: third world and decolonization; Swiss neutrality; legal status of ICRC as UN observer; Swiss foreign policy and the cold war; economic advantages of Switzerland's membership in UN; Switzerland and the EU; free trade and economic integration; involvement in foreign trade for UN; General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT); efficacy of non-governmental organizations (NGOs); interaction between UN and parliamentarians; international humanitarian customary law; Bosnian genocide; research studies and academia; procedure for ICRC elections; global communication; priority of law and order in international community; globalization; involvement in Foundation for Moral Rearmament
- Collection Name
- United Nations intellectual history project (UNIHP)
- Subjects
- Decolonization; Neutrality--Switzerland; Cold War; Non-governmental organizations; International organization; Yugoslav War, 1991-1995--Atrocities--Bosnia and Herzegovina; Switzerland Foreign relations 1945-; Sommaruga, Cornelio, 1932-; United Nations Officials and employees; United Nations History; International Committee of the Red Cross; Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining; European Union; General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (Organization)
- Format
- oral histories; sound recordings
- Genre
- Interviews
- Date
- 2001
- Note (Biographical)
- Past President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), President of the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining
- Note
- Interviewed by Thomas G. Weiss on January 11, 2001
- Note (Provenance)
- Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, Gift, 2009
- Language
- English
- Library Location
- Columbia Center for Oral History, Columbia University
Browse Location’s Digital Content - Catalog Record
- 13685436
- Also In
- Oral History Archives at Columbia
- Time-Based Media
- Time-Based Media
- Persistent URL
- https://dx.doi.org/10.7916/d8-v938-gz51
- Related URLs
- Available digital content for this interview.