Peter Maurer (born 1956) is a Swiss diplomat who was the President of theInternational Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)^[1] from 1 July 2012 until October 2022 and is currently President of theBasel Institute on Governance.

Maurer was born inThun, Switzerland. He studiedHistory andInternational Law inBern, and was awarded aPhD.

In 1987, Maurer entered the Swiss Diplomatic Service (Federal Department of Foreign Affairs), where he held various positions in Bern andPretoria, South Africa, before being transferred toNew York in 1996 as Deputy Permanent Observer at the Swiss Mission to theUnited Nations. In 2000, he was appointed Ambassador and head of the division in charge of human security at the headquarters ofSwitzerland's Foreign Ministry in Berne.^[2]

In 2004, Maurer was appointed Ambassador andPermanent Representative of Switzerland to the United Nations inNew York. In this position, he endeavoured to integrate Switzerland, which had only recently joined the United Nations, into multilateral networks. In June 2009, theUnited Nations General Assembly elected Maurer Chairman of theFifth Committee, in charge of United Nations administrative and budgetary affairs.^[3] In addition, he was elected Chairman of theBurundi Configuration of theUN Peacebuilding Commission. In January 2010, Maurer became Switzerland's State Secretary for Foreign Affairs,^[4] a position he held until he was elected President of the ICRC, succeedingJakob Kellenberger in June 2012.^[5]

Maurer led the ICRC through a historic budget increase, from 1.1 billion CHF in 2011 to over 1.6 billion CHF in 2015.^[6] In addition, he launched the world’s first "humanitarian impact bond" scheme, in which private investors lend €22 million of five-year funding and their repayments depend on what difference the project makes to its clients’ lives.^[7]

Since 2019, Maurer has been co-chairing theWorld Economic Forum High-Level Group on Humanitarian Investing, alongsideBørge Brende andKristalina Georgieva.^[8]

In September 2019, he was re-elected as the president of the ICRC for an additional term of 4 years, until October 2022, when he was succeeded byMirjana Spoljaric Egger.^[9]

While president of the ICRC, Maurer earned an annual salary of up to CHF 437’000, while the ICRC was facing significant budget cuts.^[10]

• International Gender Champions (IGC), Member (since 2017)^[11]
• World Economic Forum (WEF), Member of the Board (since 2014)^[12]
• World Economic Forum (WEF), Co-Chair of the Global Future Council on the Future of the Humanitarian System^[13]
• International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), Member of the Advisory Council^[14]

• 2014 Honorary doctorate,University of Basel^[15]
• 2018 Honorary doctorate,Waseda University^[16]
• 2023 Knight Commander's Cross of theOrder of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany^[17]
• 2023Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun^[18]

• UN, 15 September 2009.PETER MAURER OF SWITZERLAND CHAIR OF FIFTH COMMITTEE
• ICRC, 19 October 2011.ICRC names new president
• ICRC, 7 September 2012.Syria: ICRC president concludes visit amid relentless fighting
• WEF, 3 November 2014.Peter Maurer Joins Foundation Board, World Economic Forum

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