Jean Ziegler
Encyclopedia
Jean Ziegler is a former professor of sociology
at the University of Geneva
and the Sorbonne
, Paris
. He was a Member of Parliament for the Social Democrats
in the Federal Assembly of Switzerland from 1981 to 1999. He has also held several positions with the United Nations
.
, Switzerland
. His father was the president of the town’s court and a reserve artillery colonel.
Ziegler married and had one son. He studied at the universities of Bern and Geneva
and has doctorates in Law and Sociology. He also earned his barrister brevet at the bar association
of Geneva
. In 1952, he met Abbé Pierre
in Paris
, and became the first director of the Emmaus
charitable community of Geneva. In 1964, Ziegler admired the Cuba
n communists, and was Che Guevara
's chauffeur in Geneva.
Ziegler was professor at the University of Grenoble
and until 2002 at the University of Geneva
and at the Graduate Institute of Development Studies
, where he taught sociology. He also held the position of associate professor at the Sorbonne
in Paris.
of Geneva as a social democrat
. From 1967 to 1983 and from 1987 to 1999 he held a seat at the Swiss National Council
. While there he was the president of the “Swiss-Third World” parliamentary group. He joined the commissions for foreign affairs, science and international trade.
Nominated by Switzerland
, he was the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food from 2000 to 2008. Following Ziegler's election, the Swiss government stated that it "attaches great importance to human rights and is pleased that a Swiss candidate will be able to contribute his expertise to the committee." He then served a one-year term on the Advisory Committee to the United Nations Human Rights Council
, receiving forty of forty-seven votes in 2008 to finish first in a field of seven candidates.. He is also a member of the advisory board of the non-profit organization
Business Crime Control which targets white-collar crime
.
in 1994. He has an honorary degree
at the University of Mons
in Belgium
. He was awarded the Medal of the Presidency of the Italian Republic
. The Republic of Cape Verde
awarded him the National Order of Amílcar Cabral
, first degree. He turned down the Gaddafi Human Rights Prize
in 2002. On January 17, 2009 he received an honorary degree
from the University of Paris VIII. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the left-wing South East European magazine Novi Plamen
In Austria Jean Ziegler was awarded with the "Federal State Salzburg prize for future research" by Federal State Salzburg Governor Gabi Burgstaller on 20th November 2008.
s, as well as country-specific issues. Regarding the former, Ziegler has criticised the uptake of biofuels because their production can come at the expense of growing food. On 26 October 2007 Ziegler told a news conference at the UN that "it's a crime against humanity to convert agricultural productive soil into soil ... which will be burned into biofuel... What has to be stopped is ... the growing catastrophe of the massacre (by) hunger in the world."
, former President of Zaire
(now the Democratic Republic of the Congo
). Ziegler said, "This is grotesque... This is a financial empire and it is here in Switzerland." In 1994 he had already proposed to the Swiss parliament to confiscate the finances of Mobutu and give it back to the country after the end of Mobutu's dictatorship, but his proposal was declined.
He also criticized the Swiss banks in connection with the dormant accounts scandal
. According to Ziegler, his "defense of the interests of Jewish communities in their claims against Swiss banks earned him acclaim in the United States and in Israel," while he faced attacks and court procedures in Switzerland as a result of this work. In 1998, he testified before Senator Alfonse D'Amato
's hearing on the assets of Holocaust victims by the US Senate Banking Committee, against the Swiss banks and in support of the claims of the World Jewish Congress. His book The Swiss, the Gold and the Dead: How Swiss Bankers Helped Finance the Nazi War Machine was published in America in 1998.
n leader Muammar al-Gaddafi
was established in Geneva
in 1989, and Nelson Mandela
was selected the first recipient of the fund's Gaddafi International Human Rights Prize. Some newspaper accounts have identified Ziegler as one of the panel members who administered the fund in 1989. He has denied launching the award, however, and has said that he was merely "consulted." Although Libya funded the award, its winners were to be chosen by the Swiss foundation, and Ziegler said that "ironclad guarantees" had been established to ensure that "Tripoli
's influence would not be felt."
Gaddafi Prize officials announced thirteen disparate winners in 2002, including Ziegler and the French Holocaust denier Roger Garaudy
. Agence France-Press noted the irony of Ziegler, who had worked for Holocaust reparations in Switzerland, sharing the award with Garaudy. Ziegler turned down the prize, saying that he "could not accept an award or distinction from any country because of my responsibilities at the United Nations."
Ziegler's alleged associations with the Gaddafi Prize has been the subject of criticism. Alan Johnson, writing for The Guardian
online in 2008, criticized Ziegler for "launching" the prize four months after the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103
(which many believe to have been the work of Libyan agents). Joshua Muravchik from the American Enterprise Institute
also criticized his involvement with the award in a 2006 article for the Weekly Standard.
On March 25, 2011, the Swiss television channel Schweizer Fernsehen
ran a report on Ziegler's alleged associations with Gaddafi. The piece included criticism of Ziegler from Pierre Weiss, a sociologist and supporter of the Swiss Liberal Party. Ziegler, for his part, said that he was never a friend of Gaddafi and repeated his claim that he never oversaw the Human Rights Prize.
The following month, the Salzburg Music Festival withdrew an invitation to Ziegler to speak at the event's opening, citing his alleged links to Gaddafi. In the same period, Ziegler said that he now regarded Gaddafi as "completely mad" and as a psychopath and murderer.
In 1996, Ziegler signed a letter of support for Roger Garaudy. He later clarified that he intended to express "his respect for Garaudy's battle against all fundamentalisms — and Muslim fundamentalism, in particular," and that he "most firmly condemned all revisionist activity or ideas whose purpose is to deny or to minimize the genocide of the Jewish people by the Nazis."
Some of Ziegler's critics have accused him of working as an adviser to Ethiopian dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam
in the drafting of Ethiopia's 1986 constitution
, which established the country as a one-party state.
Ziegler defended the principle of Zimbabwe
an President Robert Mugabe
's land reforms in 2002, saying that Mugabe had "history and morality on his side". He described agrarian reforms as "an absolute necessity" in Zimbabwe and South Africa
, and was quoted as saying:
He added that Mugabe's land reforms were being undertaken "in a despicable context", however, and said that agrarian reform under democratic conditions would bring "equitable distribution of the property titles to rural communities". He also clarified that he was speaking in a personal context, and not as a representative of the United Nations
.
i President
Saddam Hussein
took several Swiss nationals in Iraq as hostages. Ziegler was involved in efforts to release them, initially working with former Algeria
n President
Ahmed Ben Bella
and later traveling to Baghdad
himself as part of an independent delegation that managed to secure the release of some hostages. The Swiss government did not endorse this effort, and Ziegler argued that his delegation could have freed all of the hostages had the government agreed to allow the export to Iraq of medicines and powdered milk for children.
Prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq
, Ziegler proposed that Saddam Hussein be granted a Swiss exile to prevent war from breaking out. The Swiss government did not take up this proposal. After the 2003 invasion, Ziegler accused British and American forces of using water and food as weapons of war in Iraqi cities under attack by insurgents, to encourage civilians to flee.
According to The Weekly Standard
, Ziegler believes that the United States
is an "'imperialist dictatorship' that is guilty, among other atrocities, of 'genocide' against the people of Cuba
by means of its trade embargo
."
Itzhak Levanon, Israel's ambassador to the UN responded that "In all of his reports, Mr. Ziegler always transgresses the limits of his mandate. The latest report - which touches upon several external issues - is no exception." Israel also noted that Ziegler's report focused only on the impact of Israeli bombing in Lebanon and did not cover the effects of Hezbollah rocket fire on northern Israel."
Ziegler, according to a pro-Palestinian website, stated on television that "the Israeli occupation is a colonial regime and an illegal military occupation from the UN's point of view, it continues to annex more Palestinian lands; and thus the Israeli occupation is the worst in the history of colonialism."
In 2005, Ziegler likened Gaza
to "an immense concentration camp", adding that he was glad the "guards" were about to leave (this was a reference to Israel's unilateral disengagement plan under Ariel Sharon
's government). Ziegler later rejected as "absurd and patently false" the suggestion that he had compared Israelis to Nazis, saying that he was actually quoting an Israeli scholar when he made the remark.
while serving as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food. In 2001, he reported that some of the one million tonnes of aid provided by the World Food Programme
had been taken by the army, the secret services and the government. In April 2004, a writer in the Asian Wall Street Journal called on North Korea to accept Ziegler's repeated requests for a visit, and to help establish an accountable network for food aid. Later in the same year, Ziegler said that five of his requests to visit North Korea had been turned down by officials in Pyongyang
.
Ziegler's appointment was also criticized by an independent group of political figures including Irwin Cotler
and Per Ahlmark
. This group criticized Ziegler for his associations with figures such as Mengistu Haile Mariam
and Robert Mugabe
, his involvement with the Gaddafi Prize, and his support for Roger Garaudy
. Their letter opposing Ziegler was issued by the group UN Watch
.
In March 2008, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
, a Cuban-American and the ranking
Republican on the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, sharply criticized Ziegler's appointment as an advisor to the UN Human Rights Council
. Ros-Lehtinen's stated:
Ros-Lehtinen also accused Ziegler of ignoring various famine emergencies using "his platform to consistently attack America and Israel".
The American Jewish Committee
(AJC) opposed Ziegler's bid for re-election to the UN Human Rights Office in 2009. The AJC cited his past support for Roger Garaudy and his criticisms of Israel.
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
at the University of Geneva
University of Geneva
The University of Geneva is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland.It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin, as a theological seminary and law school. It remained focused on theology until the 17th century, when it became a center for Enlightenment scholarship. In 1873, it...
and the Sorbonne
University of Paris
The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...
, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. He was a Member of Parliament for the Social Democrats
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....
in the Federal Assembly of Switzerland from 1981 to 1999. He has also held several positions with the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
.
Early life and teaching career
Jean Ziegler was born on April 19, 1934 in ThunThun
Thun is a municipality in the administrative district of Thun in the canton of Bern in Switzerland with about 42,136 inhabitants , as of 1 January 2006....
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. His father was the president of the town’s court and a reserve artillery colonel.
Ziegler married and had one son. He studied at the universities of Bern and Geneva
University of Geneva
The University of Geneva is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland.It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin, as a theological seminary and law school. It remained focused on theology until the 17th century, when it became a center for Enlightenment scholarship. In 1873, it...
and has doctorates in Law and Sociology. He also earned his barrister brevet at the bar association
Bar association
A bar association is a professional body of lawyers. Some bar associations are responsible for the regulation of the legal profession in their jurisdiction; others are professional organizations dedicated to serving their members; in many cases, they are both...
of Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
. In 1952, he met Abbé Pierre
Abbé Pierre
LAbbé Pierre, was a French Catholic priest, member of the Resistance during World War II, and deputy of the Popular Republican Movement . He founded in 1949 the Emmaus movement, which has the goal of helping poor and homeless people and refugees...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, and became the first director of the Emmaus
Emmaus (charity)
Emmaus is an international charitable movement founded in France in 1949 by the priest Abbé Pierre to combat poverty and homelessness.Since 1971 regional and national initiatives have been grouped under a parent organisation, Emmaus International, now run by Jean Rousseau, representing 310 groups...
charitable community of Geneva. In 1964, Ziegler admired the Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
n communists, and was Che Guevara
Che Guevara
Ernesto "Che" Guevara , commonly known as el Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist...
's chauffeur in Geneva.
Ziegler was professor at the University of Grenoble
University of Grenoble
University of Grenoble or Grenoble University was a university in Grenoble, France until 1970, when it was split into several different institutions:...
and until 2002 at the University of Geneva
University of Geneva
The University of Geneva is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland.It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin, as a theological seminary and law school. It remained focused on theology until the 17th century, when it became a center for Enlightenment scholarship. In 1873, it...
and at the Graduate Institute of Development Studies
Graduate Institute of Development Studies
The Graduate Institute of Development Studies was a graduate school in Geneva, Switzerland focusing on development studies...
, where he taught sociology. He also held the position of associate professor at the Sorbonne
Sorbonne
The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...
in Paris.
Election and appointment to public offices
In 1963 Jean Ziegler was elected at the municipal councilMunicipal council
A municipal council is the local government of a municipality. Specifically the term can refer to the institutions of various countries that can be translated by this term...
of Geneva as a social democrat
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....
. From 1967 to 1983 and from 1987 to 1999 he held a seat at the Swiss National Council
National Council of Switzerland
The National Council of Switzerland is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Switzerland. With 200 seats, it is the larger of the two houses....
. While there he was the president of the “Swiss-Third World” parliamentary group. He joined the commissions for foreign affairs, science and international trade.
Nominated by Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, he was the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food from 2000 to 2008. Following Ziegler's election, the Swiss government stated that it "attaches great importance to human rights and is pleased that a Swiss candidate will be able to contribute his expertise to the committee." He then served a one-year term on the Advisory Committee to the United Nations Human Rights Council
United Nations Human Rights Council
The United Nations Human Rights Council is an inter-governmental body within the United Nations System. The UNHRC is the successor to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights , and is a subsidiary body of the United Nations General Assembly...
, receiving forty of forty-seven votes in 2008 to finish first in a field of seven candidates.. He is also a member of the advisory board of the non-profit organization
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
Business Crime Control which targets white-collar crime
White-collar crime
Within the field of criminology, white-collar crime has been defined by Edwin Sutherland as "a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation" . Sutherland was a proponent of Symbolic Interactionism, and believed that criminal behavior was...
.
Honors
Jean Ziegler was made knight (chevalier) of the French Ordre des Arts et des LettresOrdre des Arts et des Lettres
The Ordre des Arts et des Lettres is an Order of France, established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture, and confirmed as part of the Ordre national du Mérite by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963...
in 1994. He has an honorary degree
Honorary degree
An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...
at the University of Mons
University of Mons
The University of Mons is a new Belgian university located in the city of Mons, created by merging the Engineering Faculty of Mons and the University of Mons-Hainaut...
in Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
. He was awarded the Medal of the Presidency of the Italian Republic
Medal of the Presidency of the Italian Republic
The Medal of the Presidency of the Italian Republic is an award given at the annual conference of the Pio Manzu Institute to about fifteen people nominated by the centers International Scientific Committee, which is headed by former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev.Notable recipients include:*...
. The Republic of Cape Verde
Cape Verde
The Republic of Cape Verde is an island country, spanning an archipelago of 10 islands located in the central Atlantic Ocean, 570 kilometres off the coast of Western Africa...
awarded him the National Order of Amílcar Cabral
Amílcar Cabral
Amílcar Lopes da Costa Cabral was a Guinea-Bissauan and Cape Verdean agricultural engineer, writer, and a nationalist thinker and politician. Also known by his nom de guerre Abel Djassi, Cabral led the nationalist movement of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde Islands and the ensuing war of independence...
, first degree. He turned down the Gaddafi Human Rights Prize
Al-Gaddafi International Prize for Human Rights
The Al-Gaddafi International Prize for Human Rights was an annual prize founded by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 1988.Gaddafi made an initial grant of ten million US$ to the Swiss-based foundation North-South which later administered the prize...
in 2002. On January 17, 2009 he received an honorary degree
Honorary degree
An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...
from the University of Paris VIII. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the left-wing South East European magazine Novi Plamen
Novi Plamen
Novi Plamen is a left-wing magazine for political, social and cultural issues primarily aimed at intellectual audiences on the territory of the former Yugoslavia and the related diaspora. It is a leading publication of its kind in the region, published by the Demokratska misao publishing company...
In Austria Jean Ziegler was awarded with the "Federal State Salzburg prize for future research" by Federal State Salzburg Governor Gabi Burgstaller on 20th November 2008.
Issues during diplomatic career
As a United Nations official, Ziegler has dealt with both general worldwide issues such as the use of biofuelBiofuel
Biofuel is a type of fuel whose energy is derived from biological carbon fixation. Biofuels include fuels derived from biomass conversion, as well as solid biomass, liquid fuels and various biogases...
s, as well as country-specific issues. Regarding the former, Ziegler has criticised the uptake of biofuels because their production can come at the expense of growing food. On 26 October 2007 Ziegler told a news conference at the UN that "it's a crime against humanity to convert agricultural productive soil into soil ... which will be burned into biofuel... What has to be stopped is ... the growing catastrophe of the massacre (by) hunger in the world."
Swiss banks
In 1997, Ziegler alleged that Swiss banking officials were lying to protect the assets of Mobutu Sese SekoMobutu Sese Seko
Mobutu Sese Seko Nkuku Ngbendu wa Za Banga , commonly known as Mobutu or Mobutu Sese Seko , born Joseph-Désiré Mobutu, was the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1965 to 1997...
, former President of Zaire
Zaire
The Republic of Zaire was the name of the present Democratic Republic of the Congo between 27 October 1971 and 17 May 1997. The name of Zaire derives from the , itself an adaptation of the Kongo word nzere or nzadi, or "the river that swallows all rivers".-Self-proclaimed Father of the Nation:In...
(now the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...
). Ziegler said, "This is grotesque... This is a financial empire and it is here in Switzerland." In 1994 he had already proposed to the Swiss parliament to confiscate the finances of Mobutu and give it back to the country after the end of Mobutu's dictatorship, but his proposal was declined.
He also criticized the Swiss banks in connection with the dormant accounts scandal
World Jewish Congress lawsuit against Swiss banks
The World Jewish Congress lawsuit against Swiss banks was launched to retrieve deposits made by victims of Nazi persecution during and prior to World War II.-Negotiations:...
. According to Ziegler, his "defense of the interests of Jewish communities in their claims against Swiss banks earned him acclaim in the United States and in Israel," while he faced attacks and court procedures in Switzerland as a result of this work. In 1998, he testified before Senator Alfonse D'Amato
Al D'Amato
Alfonse Marcello "Al" D'Amato is an American lawyer and former New York politician. A Republican, he served as United States Senator from New York from 1981 to 1999.-Early life and family:...
's hearing on the assets of Holocaust victims by the US Senate Banking Committee, against the Swiss banks and in support of the claims of the World Jewish Congress. His book The Swiss, the Gold and the Dead: How Swiss Bankers Helped Finance the Nazi War Machine was published in America in 1998.
Gaddafi Prize and Roger Garaudy
A prize foundation fund in the name of LibyaLibya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
n leader Muammar al-Gaddafi
Muammar al-Gaddafi
Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar Gaddafi or "September 1942" 20 October 2011), commonly known as Muammar Gaddafi or Colonel Gaddafi, was the official ruler of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977 and then the "Brother Leader" of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1977 to 2011.He seized power in a...
was established in Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
in 1989, and Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
was selected the first recipient of the fund's Gaddafi International Human Rights Prize. Some newspaper accounts have identified Ziegler as one of the panel members who administered the fund in 1989. He has denied launching the award, however, and has said that he was merely "consulted." Although Libya funded the award, its winners were to be chosen by the Swiss foundation, and Ziegler said that "ironclad guarantees" had been established to ensure that "Tripoli
Tripoli
Tripoli is the capital and largest city in Libya. It is also known as Western Tripoli , to distinguish it from Tripoli, Lebanon. It is affectionately called The Mermaid of the Mediterranean , describing its turquoise waters and its whitewashed buildings. Tripoli is a Greek name that means "Three...
's influence would not be felt."
Gaddafi Prize officials announced thirteen disparate winners in 2002, including Ziegler and the French Holocaust denier Roger Garaudy
Roger Garaudy
Roger Garaudy or Ragaa Garaudy is a French philosopher. Formerly a prominent communist author, he has converted to Islam and written several books which have been controversial due to his anti-Zionist positions and denial of the Holocaust.-Early life, politics and religion:Born to Catholic and...
. Agence France-Press noted the irony of Ziegler, who had worked for Holocaust reparations in Switzerland, sharing the award with Garaudy. Ziegler turned down the prize, saying that he "could not accept an award or distinction from any country because of my responsibilities at the United Nations."
Ziegler's alleged associations with the Gaddafi Prize has been the subject of criticism. Alan Johnson, writing for The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
online in 2008, criticized Ziegler for "launching" the prize four months after the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103
Pan Am Flight 103
Pan Am Flight 103 was Pan American World Airways' third daily scheduled transatlantic flight from London Heathrow Airport to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport...
(which many believe to have been the work of Libyan agents). Joshua Muravchik from the American Enterprise Institute
American Enterprise Institute
The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research is a conservative think tank founded in 1943. Its stated mission is "to defend the principles and improve the institutions of American freedom and democratic capitalism—limited government, private enterprise, individual liberty and...
also criticized his involvement with the award in a 2006 article for the Weekly Standard.
On March 25, 2011, the Swiss television channel Schweizer Fernsehen
Schweizer Fernsehen
Schweizer Fernsehen is the German language division of SRG SSR, in charge of production and distribution of television programmes in German for German-speaking Switzerland...
ran a report on Ziegler's alleged associations with Gaddafi. The piece included criticism of Ziegler from Pierre Weiss, a sociologist and supporter of the Swiss Liberal Party. Ziegler, for his part, said that he was never a friend of Gaddafi and repeated his claim that he never oversaw the Human Rights Prize.
The following month, the Salzburg Music Festival withdrew an invitation to Ziegler to speak at the event's opening, citing his alleged links to Gaddafi. In the same period, Ziegler said that he now regarded Gaddafi as "completely mad" and as a psychopath and murderer.
In 1996, Ziegler signed a letter of support for Roger Garaudy. He later clarified that he intended to express "his respect for Garaudy's battle against all fundamentalisms — and Muslim fundamentalism, in particular," and that he "most firmly condemned all revisionist activity or ideas whose purpose is to deny or to minimize the genocide of the Jewish people by the Nazis."
Ethiopia, Zimbabwe and South Africa
During the Ethiopian famine of the mid-1980s, Ziegler described the world as an "immense extermination camp", wherein 40,000 people died of hunger every day. He blamed this on an economic system that allowed the rich to become richer, and the poor to become poorer.Some of Ziegler's critics have accused him of working as an adviser to Ethiopian dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam
Mengistu Haile Mariam
Mengistu Haile Mariam is a politician who was formerly the most prominent officer of the Derg, the Communist military junta that governed Ethiopia from 1974 to 1987, and the President of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia from 1987 to 1991...
in the drafting of Ethiopia's 1986 constitution
1987 Constitution of Ethiopia
The 1987 Constitution of Ethiopia was the third constitution of Ethiopia, and went into effect on 22 February 1987 after a referendum on 1 February of that year. Its adoption inaugurated the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia .-Contents:...
, which established the country as a one-party state.
Ziegler defended the principle of Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
an President Robert Mugabe
Robert Mugabe
Robert Gabriel Mugabe is the President of Zimbabwe. As one of the leaders of the liberation movement against white-minority rule, he was elected into power in 1980...
's land reforms in 2002, saying that Mugabe had "history and morality on his side". He described agrarian reforms as "an absolute necessity" in Zimbabwe and South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, and was quoted as saying:
He added that Mugabe's land reforms were being undertaken "in a despicable context", however, and said that agrarian reform under democratic conditions would bring "equitable distribution of the property titles to rural communities". He also clarified that he was speaking in a personal context, and not as a representative of the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
.
Iraq and its wars with the United States
During the buildup to the 1990 Gulf War, IraqIraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
i President
President of Iraq
The President of Iraq is the head of state of Iraq and "safeguards the commitment to the Constitution and the preservation of Iraq's independence, sovereignty, unity, the security of its territories in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution." The President is elected by the Council of...
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
took several Swiss nationals in Iraq as hostages. Ziegler was involved in efforts to release them, initially working with former Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
n President
President of Algeria
The President of Algeria is the head of state and chief executive of Algeria, as well as the Commander-in-Chief of the Algerian armed forces.-History of the office:...
Ahmed Ben Bella
Ahmed Ben Bella
Mohamed Ahmed Ben Bella was a soldier and Algerian revolutionary, who became the first President of Algeria.-Youth:...
and later traveling to Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
himself as part of an independent delegation that managed to secure the release of some hostages. The Swiss government did not endorse this effort, and Ziegler argued that his delegation could have freed all of the hostages had the government agreed to allow the export to Iraq of medicines and powdered milk for children.
Prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq
2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...
, Ziegler proposed that Saddam Hussein be granted a Swiss exile to prevent war from breaking out. The Swiss government did not take up this proposal. After the 2003 invasion, Ziegler accused British and American forces of using water and food as weapons of war in Iraqi cities under attack by insurgents, to encourage civilians to flee.
Cuba and its relations with the United States
Ziegler has praised Cuba, stating in November 2007 that it is a world model for how it provides its people with food and praised it for cooperating with the United Nations and agreeing to allow him to report on the country's respect for the "right to food." Regarding a visit he made to Cuba, Ziegler stated: "We cannot say that the right to food is totally respected in Cuba, but we have not seen a single malnourished person." Ziegler's trip to Cuba was the first in several years by a U.N. rights rapporteur, and his invitation to Havana followed a decision by the U.N. Human Rights Council to stop scrutinizing Cuban human rights abuses.According to The Weekly Standard
The Weekly Standard
The Weekly Standard is an American neoconservative opinion magazine published 48 times per year. Its founding publisher, News Corporation, debuted the title September 18, 1995. Currently edited by founder William Kristol and Fred Barnes, the Standard has been described as a "redoubt of...
, Ziegler believes that the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
is an "'imperialist dictatorship' that is guilty, among other atrocities, of 'genocide' against the people of Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
by means of its trade embargo
Embargo
An embargo is the partial or complete prohibition of commerce and trade with a particular country, in order to isolate it. Embargoes are considered strong diplomatic measures imposed in an effort, by the imposing country, to elicit a given national-interest result from the country on which it is...
."
Comments about Israel
Ziegler criticized Israel's conduct in the 2006 Lebanon War, stating that the International Criminal Court should investigate whether Israel is guilty of war crimes for a bombing campaign in Lebanon that blocked access to food and water. Specifically, Ziegler stated that "The government of Israel should be held responsible under international law for the violations of the right to food of the Lebanese civilian population."Itzhak Levanon, Israel's ambassador to the UN responded that "In all of his reports, Mr. Ziegler always transgresses the limits of his mandate. The latest report - which touches upon several external issues - is no exception." Israel also noted that Ziegler's report focused only on the impact of Israeli bombing in Lebanon and did not cover the effects of Hezbollah rocket fire on northern Israel."
Ziegler, according to a pro-Palestinian website, stated on television that "the Israeli occupation is a colonial regime and an illegal military occupation from the UN's point of view, it continues to annex more Palestinian lands; and thus the Israeli occupation is the worst in the history of colonialism."
In 2005, Ziegler likened Gaza
Gaza
Gaza , also referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 450,000, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories.Inhabited since at least the 15th century BC,...
to "an immense concentration camp", adding that he was glad the "guards" were about to leave (this was a reference to Israel's unilateral disengagement plan under Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon is an Israeli statesman and retired general, who served as Israel’s 11th Prime Minister. He has been in a permanent vegetative state since suffering a stroke on 4 January 2006....
's government). Ziegler later rejected as "absurd and patently false" the suggestion that he had compared Israelis to Nazis, saying that he was actually quoting an Israeli scholar when he made the remark.
Interactions with North Korea
Ziegler had several interactions with the government of North KoreaNorth Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
while serving as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food. In 2001, he reported that some of the one million tonnes of aid provided by the World Food Programme
World Food Programme
The World Food Programme is the food aid branch of the United Nations, and the world's largest humanitarian organization addressing hunger worldwide. WFP provides food, on average, to 90 million people per year, 58 million of whom are children...
had been taken by the army, the secret services and the government. In April 2004, a writer in the Asian Wall Street Journal called on North Korea to accept Ziegler's repeated requests for a visit, and to help establish an accountable network for food aid. Later in the same year, Ziegler said that five of his requests to visit North Korea had been turned down by officials in Pyongyang
Pyongyang
Pyongyang is the capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly known as North Korea, and the largest city in the country. Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River and, according to preliminary results from the 2008 population census, has a population of 3,255,388. The city was...
.
Criticisms
Ziegler's appointment as U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food was criticized by The Weekly Standard, on the grounds that Ziegler is a sociologist by training and had no particular expertise on food or agriculture.Ziegler's appointment was also criticized by an independent group of political figures including Irwin Cotler
Irwin Cotler
Irwin Cotler, PC, OC, MP was Canada's Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada from 2003 until the Liberal government of Paul Martin lost power following the 2006 federal election. He was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons for the constituency of Mount Royal in a by-election...
and Per Ahlmark
Per Ahlmark
Per Axel Ahlmark is a Swedish writer and former politician. He was the leader of the Liberal People's Party from 1975 to 1978, and Minister for Employment and Deputy Prime Minister in the Swedish government from 1976 to 1978...
. This group criticized Ziegler for his associations with figures such as Mengistu Haile Mariam
Mengistu Haile Mariam
Mengistu Haile Mariam is a politician who was formerly the most prominent officer of the Derg, the Communist military junta that governed Ethiopia from 1974 to 1987, and the President of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia from 1987 to 1991...
and Robert Mugabe
Robert Mugabe
Robert Gabriel Mugabe is the President of Zimbabwe. As one of the leaders of the liberation movement against white-minority rule, he was elected into power in 1980...
, his involvement with the Gaddafi Prize, and his support for Roger Garaudy
Roger Garaudy
Roger Garaudy or Ragaa Garaudy is a French philosopher. Formerly a prominent communist author, he has converted to Islam and written several books which have been controversial due to his anti-Zionist positions and denial of the Holocaust.-Early life, politics and religion:Born to Catholic and...
. Their letter opposing Ziegler was issued by the group UN Watch
UN Watch
UN Watch is a Geneva-based NGO whose stated mission is "to monitor the performance of the United Nations by the yardstick of its own Charter". It is an accredited NGO in Special Consultative Status to the UN Economic and Social Council and an Associate NGO to the UN Department of Public Information...
.
In March 2008, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1989. She is a member of the Republican Party....
, a Cuban-American and the ranking
Ranking member
In United States politics, a ranking member is the second-most senior member of a congressional or state legislative committee from the majority party. Another usage refers to the most senior member of a congressional or state legislative committee from the minority party. This second usage, often...
Republican on the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, sharply criticized Ziegler's appointment as an advisor to the UN Human Rights Council
United Nations Human Rights Council
The United Nations Human Rights Council is an inter-governmental body within the United Nations System. The UNHRC is the successor to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights , and is a subsidiary body of the United Nations General Assembly...
. Ros-Lehtinen's stated:
Ros-Lehtinen also accused Ziegler of ignoring various famine emergencies using "his platform to consistently attack America and Israel".
The American Jewish Committee
American Jewish Committee
The American Jewish Committee was "founded in 1906 with the aim of rallying all sections of American Jewry to defend the rights of Jews all over the world...
(AJC) opposed Ziegler's bid for re-election to the UN Human Rights Office in 2009. The AJC cited his past support for Roger Garaudy and his criticisms of Israel.
Authored works
- Sociologie de la nouvelle Afrique ("Sociology of the New Africa"), Gallimard, 1964. ISBN 978-2070350599
- Sociologie et Contestation, essai sur la société mythique ("Sociology and Contestation"), Gallimard, 1969. ISBN 978-2070351923
- Le pouvoir africain ("The African Power"), Seuil, 1973, new edition 1979. ISBN 978-2020051835
- Les vivants et la mort ("The Living and the Dead"), Seuil, 1973. New edition 1978. ISBN 978-2020047968
- Une Suisse au-dessus de tout soupçon ("Switzerland Exposed"), 1976. ISBN 978-2020046831
- Main basse sur l’Afrique ("Pillage on Africa"), 1978. New edition 1980. ISBN 978-2020056298
- Retournez les fusils ! Manuel de sociologie d'opposition ("Turn the Guns Around"), Seuil, 1980. New edition 1991. ISBN 978-2020131025
- Vive le pouvoir! Ou les délices de la raison d'état, Seuil, 1985. ISBN 978-2020089845
- La victoire des vaincus, oppression et résistance culturelle ("The Victory of the Defeated"), Seuil, 1988. ISBN 978-2020130981
- La Suisse lave plus blanc ("Swiss Whitewash"), 1990. ISBN 978-2020115971
- Le bonheur d'être Suisse ("The fortune of being Swiss"), 1994. ISBN 978-2020227797
- Charles Baudelaire, co-authored with Claude Pichois, 1996. ISBN 978-0099777106
- L'Or du Maniema ("The Gold of Maniema"), Seuil, 1996. ISBN 978-2020283250
- Les rebelles, contre l’ordre du monde ("The Rebels, Against World Order"), 1997. ISBN 978-2020086141
- La Suisse, l'or et les morts ("The Swiss, the Gold, and the Dead"), 1997. ISBN 978-0140278583
- Les seigneurs du crime : les nouvelles mafias contre la démocratie ("The Crime Lords: the New Mafias against Democracy"), Seuil, 1998. ISBN 978-2-02-091429-1
- Le Livre noir du capitalisme ("The Black Book of Capitalism"), co-authored, Temps des Cerises Edition, 1998.
- La faim dans le monde expliquée à mon fils ("World Hunger Explained to my Son"), 1999. ISBN 978-2020367530
- Les nouveaux maîtres du monde et ceux qui leur resistent ("The new rulers of the world and those who resist them"), 2002. ISBN 978-2213613482
- Le droit à l’alimentation ("The Right to Adequate food"), Fayard, 2003. ISBN 2-84205-696-5
- L'empire de la honte ("The Empire of Shame"), 2005. ISBN 978-2-253-12115-2
- "UN: Still Hungry to Bed", 2001.
- La haine de l'Occident ("Hate For the West"), 2008. ISBN 978-2226186935
- Der Aufstand des Gewissens: Die nicht-gehaltene Festspielrede, Salzburg 2011. ISBN 978-3711000163
- Destruction massive : Géopolitique de la faim, Seuil, 2011. ISBN 978-2021060560.
External links
- (VIDEO)Part1, German speech on the occasion of starting world wide student protests in Audimax University Vienny, 24. November 2009
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
- "Rapporteur Watch: Jean Ziegler's Abuse of Mandate", UN WatchUN WatchUN Watch is a Geneva-based NGO whose stated mission is "to monitor the performance of the United Nations by the yardstick of its own Charter". It is an accredited NGO in Special Consultative Status to the UN Economic and Social Council and an Associate NGO to the UN Department of Public Information...
.
- Al Jazeera 2008, 'UN rapporteur talks about the global food crisis', Al Jazeera English (video via youtube.com), 28 April 2008. Retrieved on 29 April 2008. (English translation accessible on www.humaniteinenglish.com)