Cornelio Sommaruga (1932- ) was a diplomat of the Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs (1960-1986), reaching the position of state secretary for external economic affairs, after which he was elected as the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (1987-99). In 2000, he became president of the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining and of the International Association Initiatives of Change. He was a member of the High-level Panel on United Nations Peacekeeping Operations and of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty. He was born in Rome as a Swiss citizen and was educated at the Universities of Zurich, Paris, and Rome. He has written extensively on human security and humanitarian action.

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