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Pierre Graber (6 December 1908 – 19 July 2003) was a Swiss politician andmember of the Swiss Federal Council (1970–1978).[1]
He was born inLa Chaux-de-Fonds,Switzerland and after studying law inNeuchâtel andVienna he became attorney-at-law inLausanne.
Active in theSocial Democratic Party, he was in the municipal parliament ofLausanne (1934–1946), member of the parliament of the canton ofVaud (1937–1946),mayor of Lausanne (1946–1949), member of theNational Council (1942–1969, except 1963), he was the Speaker of that Assembly from 1965/66, he sat in the Foreign affairs committee and was deputy chairman of the enquiry parliamentary committee dealing with theMirage affair.
He was also a member of the government of the canton ofVaud (1962–1970) in charge of the Finance Department. He served as one of the four members of the Commission to resolve theproblem of the Jura.
In 1970, the Swiss Disaster Relief Corps was established and it intervened in Africa for the first time in 1973. A new law on development cooperation was also drawn up during his term of office. In view of the criticism, however, he had to abandon his plan to hire the journalist Roger Nordmann (1919-1972) as the department's communications manager.[2]
He was elected to theSwiss Federal Council on 10 December 1969. During his time in office, he headed thePolitical Department, i.e. ministry of foreign affairs. Graber wasPresident of the Confederation in 1975 and handed over office on 31 January 1978. During his term of office, a new law for Cooperation Development was adopted.
He obtained the ratification by Parliament of theEuropean Convention on Human Rights in 1974. As president of theCommittee of Ministers of theCouncil of Europe, he laid the first stone of thePalace of Europe inStrasbourg on 15 May 1972.
On 1 August 1975, he signed theHelsinki Final Act of theCSCE on behalf of Switzerland. At his initiative, Switzerland recognizedNorth Vietnam andNorth Korea. Graber presided over the diplomatic conference that led to the adoption of the additional protocols to theGeneva Conventions in 1977.
He faced thefirst terrorist attack on aSwissair plane inZarqa,Jordan by members of thePopular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in 1970. In this context, in 1970, he is said to have made contact, throughJean Ziegler and without the knowledge of the other members of the Federal Council, with the head of foreign policy of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO),Farouk Kaddoumi. An unofficial agreement, of which the other members of the Swiss government were not informed, was apparently reached. According to the terms of this agreement, Switzerland must remain spared from Palestinian terrorism but undertakes to support the PLO in its efforts to gain diplomatic recognition at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva. In the process, Switzerland decided not to file a complaint against a Palestinian suspect in the attack on Swissair Flight 330 inWürenlingen.[3]
After retiring, he gave his opinion on major occasions including Switzerland's unsuccessful attempt to join theUnited Nations in 1986.
Graber died of a stroke in Lausanne in 2003 at the age of 94.[1]
{{cite web}}:Check|url= value (help)| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | President of the Swiss National Council 1964/1965 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of the Swiss Federal Council 1970–1978 | Succeeded by |
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| 1875–1899 | ||
| 1900–1924 | ||
| 1925–1949 | ||
| 1950–1974 | ||
| 1975–1999 | ||
| 2000–present | ||
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