Profiles
These are a few of the influential people in the international community's efforts to regulate and eradicate the world's most dangerous weapons.
Dr. Hans Blix
Dr. Hans Blix was born in 1928 in Uppsala, Sweden. He studied at the University of Uppsala; Columbia University, where he was also a research graduate; and at Cambridge University, where he received his Ph.D. In 1959, he became Doctor of Laws at the Stockholm University, and, in 1960, was appointed Associate Professor in International Law. From 1963 to 1976, Dr. Blix served as Adviser on International Law in the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1976, he became Under-Secretary of State, in charge of international development cooperation. He was appointed
Minister for Foreign Affairs in October 1978. He served as Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency for four terms, from 1981 till 1997. He is the Chairman of the Assembly of Contributors of the Chernobyl Shelter Fund since 1998. Dr. Blix was appointed Executive Chairman of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) for Iraq by the UN Secretary-General in January 2000. He took up his duties on 1 March 2000 and left the post at the end of June 2003, with the expiry of his third contract.
As of January 2004 Dr. Blix chaired the independent international Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission (WMDC). Its report "Weapons of Terror, Freeing the World of Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Arms" was presented to the public on 1 June 2006.
Dr. Blix has several honorary doctorates and is a recipient of a number of decorations and awards. He is a member of the Institut de Droit International and an honorary member of the American Society of International Law. He has written several books on subjects associated with international and constitutional law. He has further written many articles on questions relating to energy and to the problems of spread of nuclear weapons. He was the leader of the Liberal Campaign Committee in connection with the referendum on the Swedish nuclear energy programme in 1980. He published the book, "Disarming Iraq" in March 2004.
Mr. Sergio de Queiroz Duarte
Mr. Duarte is currently the High Representative for Disarmament at the United Nations. He is a career diplomat and holds the rank of Ambassador in the Brazilian Foreign Service, where he has served for 48 years. His diplomatic appointments include the Embassies of Brazil in Rome (1961-1963), Buenos Aires (1963-1966) and Washington (1970-1974), in addition to the Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Geneva (1966-1968), where he was a member of the Brazilian delegation to the 18-nation Disarmament Committee.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Duarte served as Alternate Representative of Brazil, Office of the Special
Representative of Brazil for Disarmament Affairs in Geneva (1979-1986). Upon his promotion to the most senior rank of the Brazilian Foreign Service, he served as Ambassador to Nicaragua (1986-1991), Canada (1993-1996), China (1996-1999) and Austria (1999-2002). At this latter post, he was concurrently Ambassador to Slovakia, Slovenia and Croatia and was accredited Representative of Brazil before the international organizations headquartered in Vienna (1999-2002) and Governor for Brazil at the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
In 1988, Mr. Duarte was elected President of the Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty Prohibiting the Emplacement of Nuclear Weapons on the Seabed and the Subsoil Thereof (Geneva). He served a one-year term (September 1999-September 2000) as Chairman of the Board of Governors of IAEA. In 2005, he was elected President of the VII Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, in New York. During his career, he has attended 12 sessions of the First Committee of the General Assembly in different capacities and 6 sessions of the United Nations Disarmament Commission. Ambassador Duarte has represented his country at many other international meetings and attended several seminars in the field of disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation.
Mr. Duarte was born in Rio de Janeiro. He graduated in law from the Federal Fluminense University (Niterói, Rio de Janeiro) in 1958, and in public administration from the Brazilian School of Public Administration (Getúlio Vargas Foundation, Rio de Janeiro) in 1957. He attended the Brazilian Diplomatic Academy (Instituto Rio Branco, Rio de Janeiro) for the regular course of two years (1956-1957) before being appointed Third Secretary in the Brazilian Foreign Service.
The Hon. Douglas Roche
The Hon. Douglas Roche, O.C., is an author, parliamentarian and diplomat, who has specialized throughout his 35-year public career in peace and human security issues.
Mr. Roche was a Senator, Member of Parliament, Canadian Ambassador for Disarmament, and Visiting Professor at the University of Alberta. He was elected Chairman of the United Nations Disarmament Committee at the 43rd General Assembly in 1988.
The author of 19 books, his latest is Global Conscience (Novalis, 2007). A previous book, The Human Right to Peace (Novalis, 2003), was the Canadian Book Review Annual Editor's Choice scholarly selection for July-August 2005.
Mr. Roche holds seven honourary doctorates from Canadian and American universities and has received numerous awards for his work for peace and non-violence, including the Mahatma Gandhi Foundation for World Peace Award (Canada) and the United Nations Association's Medal of Honour. In 1995, Pope John Paul II presented him with the Papal Medal for his service as Special Adviser on disarmament and security matters, and in 1998 the Holy See named him a Knight Commander of the Order of St. Gregory the Great. He received the 2003 Peace Award of the Canadian Islamic Congress and the 2005 Luminosa Award for Unity from the Focolare Movement, North America. In 2005, he was given Lifetime Achievement awards from both the Canadian Pugwash Group and the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada.
Mr. Roche is Chairman of the Middle Powers Initiative, an international network of eight non-governmental organizations specializing in nuclear disarmament issues. He is a member of the Pugwash Council, which won the 1995 Nobel Peace Prize for its work for nuclear disarmament.
