Jacques Moreillon
Jacques Moreillon was Secretary General of the World Organisation of the Scout Movement from 1988 - 2004. He was born in Vevey (Vaud, Switzerland) in 1939. He is married and has two sons. Bilingual French and English, he also speaks Spanish, German and Portuguese. After his baccalauréat in Lausanne in 1957, he spent a year in the USA, where he graduated from the Choate School (Wallingford, Connecticut) with a scholarship from the AFS (American Field Service).
Following a law degree (1962) from Lausanne University (where he was also the Central Secretary for the Zofingue Swiss Students Society), he did a doctorate in political sciences at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva. The topic of his thesis “The International Committee of the Red Cross and political detainees" led him to become ICRC delegate, first in India (1965), then in Vietnam (1966). He was Head of Delegation in Syria (1967) and in Israel (1969-70) with, in-between, missions to Nigeria/Biafra and the Vatican. In 1971, he became Regional Delegate in South America, based in Caracas, and, in 1972, Delegate General for Africa. Member of the ICRC Directorate from 1975 until 1988, he has been Director for Principles and Law, then of General Affairs and finally Director General.
In November 1988, Dr Moreillon left his professional position at the ICRC to become Secretary General of the World Organisation of the Scout Movement. Simultaneously, he became Member of the ICRC, where he is still member of the Council of the Assembly. From 1965 to 2007 he made 242 missions in 79 countries for the ICRC.
During his 15-year mandate at the head of World Scouting, the active members of the Movement – the largest youth organisation in the world - increased from 16 to 28 millions and from 120 to 155 countries in 105 of which Dr Moreillon made 415 missions for WOSM. He retired from WOSM in April 2004.
In 1989, he succeeded Professor Jacques Freymond as Chairman of the Board of the Centre for Applied Studies in International Negotiations (CASIN) in Geneva for 15 years, and was a member of its Board until the end of 2007.
Besides the ICRC, Dr Moreillon is still member of various committees, such as Foundations Pro Victimis and Ousseimi and in 2006, he was elected President of the HEI Alumni Association.
Amongst other recognitions, Dr Moreillon has been decorated as Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur by French Prime Minister Balladur. King Hassan II of Morocco granted him the Issam Alaoui Order, President Wade of Senegal l’Ordre National du Lion and the King of Sweden his Royal Order.
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