Jürg Lauber and his life in the vastness of multilateralism
Published: Monday, Dec 9th 2024, 17:50
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Jürg Lauber from Zug has already spent two decades defending Switzerland in the bodies of multilateralism. When he takes over the chairmanship of the United Nations Human Rights Council next January at the age of 61, he will be crowning a career that he began "somewhat by chance".
Initially, it was the army that drove him into the arms of the multilateral system over 30 years ago. When he completed his law degree at the University of Zurich, Lauber was not sure whether he wanted to become a lawyer. Despite an interest in international issues, he wasn't thinking of becoming a diplomat back then either, the current Swiss ambassador to the United Nations (UN) in Geneva told the Keystone-SDA news agency.
A favorable opportunity brought Lauber to the Swiss legation within the UN support group for the transition in Namibia at the end of the 1980s. As a logistics officer in the army, he accompanied the first steps of the new African state in this peacekeeping force. For Lauber, this was a revelation: "These five months were extraordinary," he said. Especially because of the close cooperation with the blue helmets from numerous countries.
This was followed by an experience in the Swiss detachment of the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission in Korea (NSSC), where, still a soldier, he familiarized himself with the workings of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA). Since then, apart from a few initial positions, including in the Chinese capital Beijing, he has mainly worked in the multilateral ecosystem.
Targeted by the SVP in 2018
"My first idea was more traditional bilateral diplomacy, i.e. being sent to a country to represent its economic, political and cultural interests," said Lauber. But multilateralism became a matter of course after his first experience as a legal advisor at the Swiss UN mission in New York.
He subsequently climbed the career ladder, was Head of the "United Nations and International Organizations" Division at the FDFA between 2011 and 2015 and then Head of the Swiss UN Mission in New York.
Lauber, known for his modesty and pragmatic approach, unintentionally caused quite a stir in Swiss politics in 2018. At the time, he was leading the negotiations in New York on a global migration pact together with his Mexican counterpart. When this was due to be concluded, Switzerland refrained from signing up to the agreement due to pressure from parliament. The SVP even portrayed the ambassador as a traitor to his country. Today, however, the Zug native no longer holds a grudge. "I have done my job. Parliament is doing its job. That's in the past," says Lauber.
Honor and responsibility
In September 2020, Lauber became head of the Swiss UN mission in Geneva and continued to chair the first UN working group on the development of new technologies in the context of international security until 2021. "Three years later, the challenges in this area have become even more urgent. There was hardly any talk about artificial intelligence back then," says Lauber.
He does not want to make any big waves during his upcoming term as Chair of the UN Human Rights Council. "It is an honor and a great responsibility, but above all it is an opportunity to strengthen our commitment to the Council," he emphasized.
Although he is often quiet, the man who loves mountain hikes, walks along Lake Geneva or Lake Zug and music can sometimes bang his fist on the table. As he did at the time of a report by the UN Working Group on People of African Descent, which concluded that there was systemic racism in Switzerland. The ambassador had expressed the irritation of the Swiss authorities, who found this criticism unpalatable.
"Every country has the same reaction. When it is criticized, it tends to play down the seriousness of the situation. You have to look at these reports with a cool head," says Lauber. He intends to maintain this attitude next year when he chairs the discussions in the UN Human Rights Council.
©Keystone/SDA
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