BOARD

Marco Sassòli, chairs the board of Geneva Call. He is since March 2004 professor of international law at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, and chairs the board of the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights. From 2001-2003, he has been a regular professor of international law at the University of Quebec in Montreal, Canada, where he remains an associate professor. He graduated as doctor of laws from the University of Basel (Switzerland) and is member of the Swiss bar. He has worked from 1985-1997 for the International Committee of the Red Cross at the headquarters, inter alia as deputy head of its legal division, and in the Middle East and the Balkans. He has also served as executive secretary of the International Commission of Jurists and as registrar at the Swiss Supreme Court. He has published on international humanitarian law, human rights law, international criminal law, the sources of international law and state responsibility.

Guy-Olivier Second, Vice-President of the Board, former Member of the Government of the Republic and Canton of Geneva, Minister of Health. He was also Mayor of the City of Geneva and a former United Nations Special Ambassador for the World Summit on Information and Communication Technologies in Geneva in 2003 and in Tunis in 2005. He is currently the Executive Director of the Digital Solidarity Fund.

Bertrand Reich, Secretary of the Geneva Call Board, is a Lawyer and Member of Geneva Bar Association. He is involved in Geneva's economic and political issues. He was has worked as a lawyer with organizations supporting refugees and asylum seekers.

Andrew Clapham, Member of the Board, is Professor of Public International Law at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva and Director of the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights. Before joining the Institute in 1997, Clapham was representative of Amnesty International to the United Nations in New York. His current research relates to the role of non-state actors in international law and related questions in human rights and humanitarian law. He has worked as Special Adviser on Corporate Responsibility to High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson and Adviser on International Humanitarian Law to Sergio Vieira de Mello, Special Representative to the UN S-G in Iraq. His publications include International Human Rights Lexicon, with Susan Marks (Oxford University Press, 2005), Human Rights Obligations of Non-state Actors (Oxford University Press, 2006), and Human Rights: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2007).

Tom McCarthy, Member of the Board, Former Senior Advisor, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. He still conducts mandates on human rights, mainly with the World Organization Against Torture.

Elisabeth Decrey Warner, Member of the Board (see: President).

Jannis Sakellariou, Member of the Board, is an economist and engineer with extensive political experience. He is currently a Member of the European Parliament. On behalf of the European Union, he conducted an Observation Mission for the electoral process in Guatemala (July-December 2003) and in Nicaragua (September-November 2001). In Germany, he undertook different political responsibilities such as Chairman of the Bavarian SPD Peace and Security Working Group (1992-1999), Spokesman and Coordinator of the Parliamentary Group of the Party of European Socialists in the EP Committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and defence Policy (1989-1996; 1999-2004). Deeply involved in the education, Mr Sakellariou was the Academic Director at the University of the Armed Forces in Neubiberg/Munich (1976-1984) and Collaborator at the Central Administration of the Max-Planck Institute in Munich (1974-1975). He speaks German, Greek, Spanish, French, English, and Italian.

Eric Sottas, Member of the Board, is Director of the World Organization Against Torture in Geneva.

Return to the Staff Section