The Jacques Moreillon Seminar

We were honoured to welcome Jacques Moreillon as a guest to Nuffield College to present a student seminar about his life as delegate of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). He spoke about the history of the ICRC, of international humanitarian law, as well as his experiences with political detainees.

Jacques Moreillon (born in 1939 in Vevey, Switzerland) was Director General of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and then Secretary General of the World Organisation of the Scout Movement (WOSM). Following a law degree (1962) from Lausanne University, he took a doctorate in political sciences at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva. The topic of his thesis "The International Committee of the Red Cross and political detainees" led him to become an ICRC delegate, first in India (1965), then in Vietnam (1966). He was Head of Delegation in Syria (1967) and in Israel (1969-70) with, in-between, missions to Nigeria/Biafra and the Vatican. In 1971, he married and became Regional Delegate in South America, based in Caracas, and, in 1972, Delegate General for Africa. Member of the ICRC directorate from 1975 until 1988, he has been Director for Principles and Law, then of General Affairs and finally Director General as of 1984. In November 1988, Dr Moreillon left his professional position at the ICRC to become Secretary General of the World Organisation of the Scout Movement (WOSM) until 2004. During this time the WOSM membership grew from 16 million members in 120 countries to 28 million members in 155 countries. Simultaneously, he became Member of the ICRC and of its Council of the Assembly and Honorary member as of 2010. From 1965 to 2009 he made some 250 missions in 80 countries for the ICRC.