Amb. Gérard Stoudmann

Amb. Gérard Stoudmann has been the Special Representative for the Western Balkans of the Swiss Chairmanship of the OSCE since 1.1.2014. He was appointed for a two-year term. Previously, he was Special Representative of the Swiss Foreign Ministry for the Sahel from December 2012 to September 2013. From November 2009 to November 2012, he was the Special Representative of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe for organisational development and reform of the organisation. Previously, he served as Special Envoy of the Swiss Foreign Ministry for Francophone Africa. In 2006, he served as UN High Representative for the elections in The Ivory Coast, appointed by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. He has worked both in public service, where he held various positions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Economy, and in the private sector.  Prior to his departure for the UN, he was Director of the Geneva Centre for Security Policy from 2002 to 2006. 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, democratisation programs, human rights monitoring and reporting as well as diplomatic conferences on sensitive human dimension issues. In 1993/94, he was Managing Director of the St-Gallen Foundation for International Studies, University of St-Gallen and of the St-Gallen International Management Symposium. From 1989 to 1993, he served as Personal Adviser to Jean-Pascal Delamuraz, President of the Swiss Confederation and Minister of the Economy. Earlier, in a number of multilateral functions he served in the Swiss Foreign Service (Council of Europe, CSCE, European Communities, Brussels). Mr. Stoudmann studied law at the University of Lausanne and International Relations at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva. He is a member of the Board of Directors of IFES (International Foundation for Election Systems), in Washington DC.