New Director of Operations at the ICRC

Geneva (ICRC) - At its meeting of 25 February 1998, the Assembly of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) appointed Mr Jean-Daniel Tauxe to succeed Mr Jean de Courten as Director of Operations from 1 May this year.

Mr de Courten has been Director of Operations since October 1989. His decision to stand down, announced last December, was taken in pursuance of the ICRC's new personnel policy aimed at increasing the mobility of senior staff within the organization. Mr de Courten hopes that this move will enable a new generation of staff to assume greater responsibilities in the running of the ICRC. The Assembly expressed its warmest thanks to Mr de Courten for the outstanding services he has rendered to the ICRC over the past 26 years, first as a field delegate, then as Delegate General for Asia and the Pacific, and finally as Director of Operations.

Mr Jean-Daniel Tauxe, who is 44 years of age, joined the ICRC in 1981 after studying economics and law. He held the post of Delegate General for Africa from 1992 to 1997, when he was appointed Deputy Director of Operations.