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:

• Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), 2021-2025
• Administrative Council of the Universal Postal Union (UPU-COA), 2022-2025
• Postal Operations Council of the Universal Postal Union (UPU-POC), 2022-2025
• International Telecommunication Union (ITU), 2023-2026
• UN World Tourism Organisation, Programme and Budget Committee (UNWTO-PBC), 2023-2027
• United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), 2024-2025
• Member of the Presidency of the International Criminal Court (ICC), 2024-2026
• United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), 2025-2031
• United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD) of the United Nations Economic and Social Council, 2025-2028
• Statistical Commission (UNSD) of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), 2025-2028
• UN Commission for Social Development (CsocD), 2025-2029
• Member of the Steering Committee of the World Agricultural Water Scarcity Framework (WASAG), 2025-2027
• UN Human Rights Council, 2025-2027
• UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), 2025-2026

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), 2024-26
• 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), 2025-28
• Alain Berset, Secretary General, Council of Europe, 2024-28
• 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)
• Damaris Carnal, Vice-president of the Bureau of the Steering Committee for Human Rights in Biomedicine and Health (CDBIO) of the Council of Europe, 2024-26
• Alain Chablais, Judge at the European Court of Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, 2024-33
• 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), 2023-25
• Major General Patrick Gauchat, Head of Mission of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organisation (UNTSO) and Acting Head of the UN Disengagement Observer Force in the Golan (UNDOF)
• Marie-Claude Hofner, Member of the Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO), 2023-27
• Philip D. Jaffé, member of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), 2023-27
• Marcel Jullier, member of the Committee on Contributions, 2023-25
• 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, 2024-26
• Alwin Kopse, Chair, International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA), 2023-25
• Andreas Krause, Member of the High-level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence
• Jürg Lauber, President and WEOG Member of the Bureau of the Human Rights Council, 2025
• Sandra Lengwiler, Vice-president of the Commission for Gender Equality of the Council of Europe, 2025
• Sara Pangrazzi, Member of the Convention Bureau of the Cybercrime Convention (T-CY) of the Council of Europe, 2024-26
• Benjamin Rothen, Chair of the UN Statistical Commission, 2025-26
• Barbara Schedler-Fischer, member of the Executive Council of the World Health Organisation (WHO), 2024-26
• 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), 2023-25
• 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), 2024-28
• 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)
• Patrick Nicollier, Director, Human Resources, World Health Organisation (WHO)
• 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), 2023-26
• 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)

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

Careers in international organisations