BERNARD KOUCHNER

' Bernard Kouchner' (born November 1 1939 in Avignon) is a French politician, diplomat, and doctor. He is co-founder of Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and Doctors of the World. He is currently the French minister of Foreign and European Affairs in the Fillon government.

Contents

Early life

Member of European Parliament

In Chirac's government

In Sarkozy's government

Personal life

Positions held

Notes

External links

Early life

Born to a Jewish father and a Protestant mother, he began his political career as a member of the French Communist Party (PCF), from which he was expelled in 1966. He worked as a physician for the Red Cross in Biafra in 1968 (during the Nigerian Civil War). He founded MSF in 1971, and then, due to a conflict of opinion with MSF chairman Claude Malhuret, the ''Médecins du Monde'' (1980). Kouchner worked as a humanitarian volunteer during the Siege of Naba’a refugee camp in Lebanon in East Beirut during the Lebanese Civil War taking risks that "other foreign aid workers weren’t, even worked closely with the sometimes-controversial Shia cleric Imam Musa al-Sadr."[1]

Member of European Parliament

From 1988, he began his government career in Socialist governments, though he was never a member of the French Socialist Party. Later, he continued his political career in the European Parliament.
On July 15 1999, pursuant to Security Council Resolution 1244, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan nominated Kouchner as the first UN Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Interim Administration in Kosovo [2]. During 18 months, he led UN efforts to create a new civil administration and political system replacing the Serbian ones, and to rebuild the economy shattered by three years of civil war. Thus, municipal councils were elected at local level by the end of 2000 [3]. He was replaced on 21 January 2001 by Danish Social Democrat Hans Hækkerup.

In Chirac's government

He is a long-time advocate of humanitarian intervention. In early 2003, he pronounced himself in favour of removing Saddam Hussein as President of Iraq, arguing that interference against dictatorship should be a global priority, and continued to say that now the focus should be on the actual people themselves, and that they are the only ones who could answer ''yes'' or ''no'' to war.
In a February 4, 2003 editorial with Antoine Veil in ''Le Monde'', entitled "Neither War Nor Saddam," Kouchner said that he was opposed to the impending War in Iraq, and, as the title suggests, to the remaining in power of Saddam Hussein, the removal of whom should be accomplished via a concerted United Nations, preferably diplomatic, solution.^{[1] [2]}
In 2005, Kouchner was a candidate for the position of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), but lost the appointment in favour of former Portuguese Prime Minister, António Guterres, who was nominated by then-UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. One of Kouchner statements on behalf of his candidature can be found on the International Council of Voluntary Agencies site.
In 2006, Kouchner was also a candidate to become Director-General of the World Health Organisation[4]. He lost before the final election round and Chinese candidate Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun was later elected. Both failures may hint at the distrust on the part of world state officials of an advocate of humanitarian interventions.

In Sarkozy's government

After the election of Nicolas Sarkozy in 2007, Kouchner was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs, even though Kouchner supported Sarkozy's Socialist rival Ségolène Royal during the campaign. He has since been expelled from the Socialist Party for his acceptance of the post.^[3]

Personal life

Kouchner is married to the journalist Christine Ockrent,^[4] his second wife. He has four children with his first wife.

Positions held

★ Became the first "Secrétaire d'état" (lower ministerial cabinet) in charge of humanitarian action from 1988 to 1992 (in the Michel Rocard cabinet.)

★ Health Minister in 1992-1993 (under Pierre Bérégovoy).

★ Member of the European Parliament from 1994 to 1997.

★ Health Minister from 1997 to 1999. (under Lionel Jospin)

★ Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations in Kosovo from 1999 to 2001.

★ Health-Delegated Minister from 2001 to 2002.

Notes

1. Le Monde, 4 february 2003, ''Ni la guerre ni Saddam''
2. Le Monde, 18 may 2007, ''La dernière mission du docteur Kouchner''
3. France New's Government - A study in perpetual motion, ''The Economist'', June 23, 2007
4. Nouveau Grub Street, ''The Economist'', May 31, 2007

External links

★ Bernard Kouchner discusses, ''The Future of Humanitarianism,'' at the Carnegie Council

★ Kosovo’s Kouchner, Inventor Of ‘Humanitarian Interventionism’, To Monitor Sri Lanka, Asian Tribune, 25 December 2006

★ A Surprising Choice for France’s Foreign Minister, By Elaine Sciolino, ''New York Times'', May 18, 2007