Switzerland's presence in international organisations

Switzerland's multilateral engagement is a long-term commitment which focuses on continuity. To best defend its foreign policy interests in the multilateral arena and participate in shaping the ever more complex international environment, Switzerland seeks to ensure it is adequately represented in international organisations.

To this end, Switzerland has defined the following objectives:

• Ensuring Swiss participation in political bodies and committees
  

• Having Swiss nationals appointed or elected to strategic executive roles in international organisations

• Promoting young talent to further pursue Swiss interests in international organisations.

Switzerland has steadily increased its presence and visibility in international organisations since joining the United Nations in 2002. It does this by way of political campaigns to support Swiss candidacies (as a country and as individuals).

Switzerland is currently a member of the following international organisations:

• United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), 2019-25
• Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), 2021-25
• International Telecommunication Union (ITU), 2023-2026
• Universal Postal Union Postal Operations Council (UPU-POC), 2022-25
• Universal Postal Union Council of Administration (UPU-COA), 2022-25
• Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICSICH), of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), 2020-2024
• United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD) of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, 2021-2024
• Statistical Commission (UNSD) of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), 2021-2024
• UN Security Council, 2023-2024
• UN World Tourism Organisation, Programme and Budget Committee (UNWTO-PBC), 2023-2027

Candidates are either elected or appointed, depending on the position and the organisation. The FDFA, sometimes in collaboration with other federal departments, campaigns to have Swiss nationals appointed or elected to executive roles.

The following is a list (non-exhaustive) of Swiss nationals holding executive roles in international organisations:

• Philippe Baechtold, Director PCT Service Department, World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO)
• Krisztina Bende, President and Member of the Committee on Commodity Problems (CCP) of the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), 2024-2026
• Christophe Bernasconi, Secretary General, Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH), 2023-28
• Barbara Bernath, member of the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), 2025-2028
• Alain Berset, Secretary General, Council of Europe, 2024-2028
• Susan Brown, Assistant Administrator and Director, Bureau for External Relations and Advocacy of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
• Mô Bleeker, Special Adviser of the UN Secretary-General on Responsibility to Protect (R2P)
• Thomas Cottier, Member of the Multi-Party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement (MPIA) of the World Trade Organisation (WTO)
• Benoît Dubosson, Council President, International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), 2023-2025
• Daniel Fink, member of the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), for the period 2018–20 and 2021-24
• Major General Patrick Gauchat, Head of Mission of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organisation (UNTSO)
• Marie-Claude Hofner, Member of the Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO), 2023-2027
• Philip D. Jaffé, member of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), 2023-2027
• Marcel Jullier, member of the Committee on Contributions, 2023-2025
• Christine Kaufmann, chair of the Working Party on Responsible Business Conduct of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
• Natalie Kohli, member of the eighth Advisory Group of the Peacebuilding Fund, 2024-2026
• Alwin Kopse, Chair, International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA), 2023-2025
• Andreas Krause, Member of the High-level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence
• Patrick Nicollier, Director, Human Resources, World Health Organisation (WHO)
• Barbara Schedler-Fischer, member of the Executive Council of the World Health Organisation (WHO), 2024-2026
• Markus Schlagenhof, Deputy Secretary-General, European Free Trade Association (EFTA)
• Sonia Seneviratne, Vice Chair of the Working Group I, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
• Renato Krpoun, chair of the ESA Council at delegate level, European Space Agency (ESA), 2023-2025
• Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)
• Nicolas Levrat, Special Rapporteur on minority issues, Office of the High-Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
• Bobjoseph Mathew, President of the International Committee of Legal Metrology (CIML), International Organization of Legal Metrology (OIML)
• Niklaus Meier, member of the Governing Council of the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT), 2024-2028
• Chitra Narayanaswamy, Director and Controller, Department of Programme Planning and Finance, World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO)
• Daniel Neuenschwander, Director for Human and Robotic Exploration at the European Space Agency (ESA)
• Bruno Oberle, Director General, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
• Philippe Richard, Vice president of the international Committee for Weights and Measures, International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM)
• Markus Schefer, member of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), 2023-2026
• Florian Schütz, Chair of the Working Party on Security in the Digital Economy (SDE) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
• Gaudenz Silberschmidt, Director Health and Multilateral Partnerships at the World Health Organization (WHO)
• Dorothea Winkler, member of the Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA), 2017–20 and 2021-24

Switzerland promotes young talent by funding UN Youth Volunteer and Junior Professional Officer (JPO) positions.

Careers in international organisations