ICRC Directorate begins new term of office

At its meeting on 16 February, the ICRC Assembly appointed a new director for international law and cooperation within the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. It also reappointed the five other members of the Directorate for a new four-year term of office.

 Philippe Spoerri will head the Department of International Law and Cooperation within the Movement. Mr Spoerri, who holds a doctorate in law, began his career at the ICRC in 1994. Among other things, he has served as legal adviser to the Department of Operations and as head of delegation in Afghanistan, a post he held from May 2004 to January 2006. Before joining the ICRC, he worked as a lawyer in a private law firm in Munich. He studied law at the universities of Gottingen, Geneva, Munich and Bielefeld, where he obtained his doctorate. Mr Spoerri is 43 and a Swiss national. He will replace François Bugnion , who has been a member of the Directorate since 2000 and has now completed his term of office.

The five reappointed directors are:

 Pierre Krähenbühl , director of operations. Mr Krähenbühl, who is 40 and holds a BA in political science and international relations, joined the ICRC in 1991. After carrying out assignments in El Salvador, Peru, Afghanistan and Bosnia-Herzegovina, he served as head of operations for Central and South-Eastern Europe in Geneva.

 Jacques Stroun , director of human resources. Born in 1955, Mr Stroun is a medical doctor and has trained in the fiel ds of management and human resources. After joining the ICRC in 1980, he worked in Cambodia and El Salvador before returning to Geneva to serve in turn as head of the Detention Division and deputy director of operations. He was appointed director of human resources and finance in 1998.

 Doris Pfister , director of resources and operational support. Ms Pfister, 50, holds a BA in economics and an MSc in organizational behaviour. She joined the ICRC in 1989 after initially working as a journalist. Following assignments as a delegate in Israel and the occupied and autonomous territories, Sri Lanka and Cambodia, she carried out various tasks relating to ICRC cooperation with the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and held headquarters posts in the Press Division and the Department of Operations.

 Yves Daccord , director of communication. Mr Daccord, 42, holds a BA in political science. A former journalist, he joined the ICRC in 1992 and has worked in Israel and the occupied and autonomous territories, Sudan, Yemen, the northern Caucasus and Georgia. He returned to ICRC headquarters in 1997 to take up the post of deputy head of the Division for the Promotion of International Humanitarian Law. He has headed the Communication Division since 1998.

 Angelo Gnaedinger , director-general. Born in 1951, Mr Gnaedinger trained as a lawyer before joining the ICRC in 1984. Following initial field assignments in the Middle East and Africa, he held various posts at the ICRC's Department of Operations in Geneva and was appointed Delegate-General for Europe, the Middle East and North Africa in 1998.

 For further information, please contact :  

 Antonella Notari, ICRC Geneva, tel. +41 22 730 22 82 or +41 79 217 32 80 (mobile)