Fernand Dehousse was a Belgian politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

.

Biography

Originally a Liberal, he went on to join the Socialist Party

Socialist Party (francophone Belgium)

The Socialist Party is a Francophone social-democratic political party in Belgium. As of the 2010 elections, it is the second largest party in the Belgian Chamber of Representatives and the largest Francophone party...

 while he remained a Walloon activist

Walloon Movement

The Walloon Movement is an umbrella term for all Belgian political movements that either assert the existence of a Walloon identity or defend French culture and language within Belgium. The movement began as a defence of the primacy of French but later gained political and socio-economic objectives...

. He was the father of the politician Jean-Maurice Dehousse, grandfather of the lawyer and political scientist Renaud Dehousse, and husband of the philologist Rita Lejeune.

After obtaining degrees in Law and Social Sciences at the University of Liège

University of Liège

The University of Liège , in Liège, Wallonia, Belgium, is a major public university in the French Community of Belgium. Its official language is French.-History:...

 (1929), Dehousse sontinued his training in Paris, Grenoble and Geneva from 1929 to 1831. He taught at the Institute of International Law at the University of Liège from 1947.
Belgian representative to the United Nations General Assembly

United Nations General Assembly

For two articles dealing with membership in the General Assembly, see:* General Assembly members* General Assembly observersThe United Nations General Assembly is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation...

 from 1946 to 1948 and then from 1951 to 1952, Dehousse was a member of the Economic and Social Council in 1946-1947 and 1950, co-opted as Socialist Senator in 1950, and President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe , which held its first session in Strasbourg on 10 August 1949, can be considered the oldest international parliamentary assembly with a pluralistic composition of democratically elected members of parliament established on the basis of an...

 from 1956 to 1959. He was a member of the European Assembly (now European Parliament

European Parliament

The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...

) from 17 July 1952 to 2 August 1965 and again from 29 March 1966 to 11 March 1971. When the Western European Union

Western European Union

The Western European Union was an international organisation tasked with implementing the Modified Treaty of Brussels , an amended version of the original 1948 Treaty of Brussels...

 established a Commission for the Referendum in Saarland

Saar (protectorate)

The Saar Protectorate was a German borderland territory twice temporarily made a protectorate state. Since rejoining Germany the second time in 1957, it is the smallest Federal German Area State , the Saarland, not counting the city-states Berlin, Hamburg and Bremen...

, Dehousse was appointed President (1955–1956).

Belgian politics

As a Walloon activist, he supported the federalist approach to the future of Belgium. On 20 October 1945, he supported a federalist proposal before the National Walloon Congress, which only received 40% of the votes as against 46% for unity, but which was finally adopted unanimously.

He was Minister of Labour in 1945, Minister of Education in 1965, and Minister of Community Relations from 1971 to 1972.