Jean Ziegler facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jean Ziegler
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Ziegler in 2009
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| Born |
Hans Ziegler
19 April 1934 Thun, Switzerland
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| Died | 10 June 2026 (aged 92) |
| Education | University of Bern; University of Geneva |
| Occupation | Professor, adviser, sociologist |
Jean Ziegler (born Hans Ziegler, 19 April 1934 – 10 June 2026) was a well-known Swiss professor and expert in sociology. He taught at the University of Geneva and the Sorbonne in Paris. He also served as a vice-president for a committee that advised the United Nations Human Rights Council. For many years, from 1981 to 1999, he was a member of the Swiss Parliament for the Social Democrats. He held important roles with the United Nations, including being a Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food from 2000 to 2008. This role meant he worked to make sure everyone had enough to eat. He was also part of the UN Human Rights Council's Advisory Committee from 2008 to 2012.
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Who Was Jean Ziegler?
Jean Ziegler was born in Thun, Switzerland, on April 19, 1934. His father was a judge in their town and also a military officer.
Jean Ziegler studied at the universities of Bern and Geneva. He also became a lawyer in Geneva. Later, he moved to Paris to study sociology at the Sorbonne. He earned advanced degrees in both Law and Sociology.
While in Paris, he met famous thinkers like Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. They introduced him to new ideas about society. He even reported on the Algerian War for their magazine. Simone de Beauvoir suggested he change his first name from Hans to Jean.
In 1952, he met Abbé Pierre, a French priest known for helping the poor. Jean Ziegler became the first director of the Emmaus charity in Geneva, which helps people in need.
In 1961, he traveled to the newly independent Democratic Republic of the Congo. There, he saw children suffering from hunger and mistreatment. He also learned that the country's wealth was being taken by its leader, Mobutu Sese Seko. This experience made him want to work for a world where wealth is shared more fairly between rich and poor countries.
A few years later, in 1964, Ziegler met Che Guevara, a famous revolutionary, in Geneva. When Ziegler asked if he could join him in Cuba, Guevara told him to fight for change in his own country, saying, "Here is where you were born, and here lives the monster's brain. It is here that you must fight."
Jean Ziegler became a professor at the University of Grenoble and later at the University of Geneva. He also taught sociology at the Graduate Institute of Development Studies and the Sorbonne.
A Career Helping Others
In 1963, Jean Ziegler began his public service career. He was elected to the local council in Geneva as a social democrat. From 1967 to 1983, and again from 1987 to 1999, he served in the Swiss National Council. This is like being a member of parliament. During this time, he led a group focused on Switzerland's relationship with developing countries. He also worked on committees for foreign affairs, science, and international trade.
Switzerland nominated him to be the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food from 2000 to 2008. In this important role, he worked to ensure that people around the world had enough to eat. The Swiss government was happy that he could use his knowledge to help the UN.
He was also one of the first 18 members of the Advisory Committee to the United Nations Human Rights Council. He was elected in 2008 and served a one-year term. He was re-elected several times, serving until September 2016. He also advised a group called Business Crime Control, which works against certain types of financial wrongdoing.
Awards and Recognitions
Jean Ziegler received many honors for his work. In 1994, France made him a knight of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He also received an honorary degree from the University of Mons in Belgium. Italy awarded him the Medal of the Presidency of the Italian Republic. The country of Cape Verde gave him their National Order of Amílcar Cabral.
In 2002, he was offered a prize from a leader who was seen as controversial. However, he turned down the prize. He explained that because of his responsibilities at the United Nations, he could not accept awards from any country.
He received another honorary degree from the University of Paris VIII in 2009. In Austria, he was given the "Federal State Salzburg prize for future research" in 2008. In 2012, he received the "Blue Planet Award" for his efforts in humanitarian ethics.
Important Issues and Concerns
As a United Nations official, Jean Ziegler worked on many global issues. He focused on ensuring everyone had access to food.
Speaking Out on Global Hunger
He often spoke about the problem of hunger worldwide. For example, he criticized the use of biofuels. He worried that growing crops for fuel might mean less land is used to grow food for people. In 2007, he said it was wrong to turn farmland into places for growing fuel crops. He believed this could make the problem of hunger worse.
During the Ethiopian famine in the mid-1980s, Ziegler described the world as a place where many people died from hunger every day. He believed this was due to an economic system where the rich got richer, and the poor got poorer.
Views on Banks and Money
Jean Ziegler was very critical of Swiss banks. In 1997, he claimed that Swiss banking officials were not being truthful about money belonging to Mobutu Sese Seko, the former leader of Zaire. He said this money was a "financial empire" hidden in Switzerland. He had even suggested in 1994 that the Swiss parliament should take Mobutu's money and return it to the country, but this idea was not accepted.
He also spoke out about the issue of dormant accounts in Swiss banks. These were accounts that belonged to victims of the Holocaust. He supported efforts to get these assets back to their rightful owners. His book, The Swiss, the Gold and the Dead, discussed how Swiss bankers were involved in financing the Nazi war machine.
Because of his strong statements against the Swiss banking system, Ziegler faced several legal challenges. He was ordered to pay a large amount of money, which caused him financial difficulties.
Thoughts on Conflicts and Countries
Ziegler also shared his views on various international conflicts and situations.
During the lead-up to the 1990 Gulf War, some Swiss citizens were held in Iraq. Ziegler worked to help release them. He even traveled to Baghdad as part of a group that helped free some of the people. He believed more could have been done if the Swiss government had allowed medicines and powdered milk to be sent to Iraq.
Before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Ziegler suggested a way to prevent the war. He proposed that Saddam Hussein could go into exile in Switzerland. This idea was not taken up by the Swiss government. After the invasion, he expressed concerns that access to food and water was being affected during conflicts in Iraqi cities.
He praised Cuba in 2007 for how it provided food to its people. He also noted that Cuba worked with the United Nations. He criticized the United States' trade embargo against Cuba, saying it harmed the Cuban people.
Ziegler also raised concerns about the impact of conflicts on civilians. He stated that the International Criminal Court should investigate whether actions during the 2006 Lebanon War affected access to food and water for the Lebanese people. Israel's ambassador to the UN disagreed, saying Ziegler's reports went beyond his role. Ziegler also used strong language to describe the situation in Gaza. He later clarified that he was quoting an Israeli scholar and not comparing Israelis to Nazis.
He also had interactions with North Korea. In 2001, he reported concerns that some food aid provided by the World Food Programme was being taken by the army and government. He repeatedly asked to visit North Korea to assess the situation, but his requests were denied.
He defended the idea of land reforms in Zimbabwe in 2002. He believed that distributing land more fairly was necessary in countries like Zimbabwe and South Africa. He said that white landowners were on "despoiled land" from colonial times. However, he also noted that the reforms in Zimbabwe were happening in a difficult way. He clarified that these were his personal views, not those of the United Nations.
Facing Criticism
Jean Ziegler's work and strong opinions sometimes led to criticism. Some people questioned his appointment as the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food. They argued that he was a sociologist, not an expert in food or agriculture.
He also faced criticism for his views on certain leaders and countries. Some groups, like UN Watch, criticized him for his past associations and for his support of Roger Garaudy. Ziegler later clarified his position on Garaudy, stating that he strongly condemned any ideas that denied or minimized the Holocaust.
In 2008, a US politician, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, criticized Ziegler. She said he supported some leaders who were seen as dictators and that he often criticized America and Israel. The American Jewish Committee also opposed his re-election to a UN role, citing his past support for Garaudy and his criticisms of Israel. He was also criticized in 2017 for defending the Venezuelan leader, Maduro.
Books by Jean Ziegler
Jean Ziegler wrote many books about sociology, politics, and global issues. Here are some of his notable works:
- Sociologie de la nouvelle Afrique (Sociology of the New Africa), 1964.
- Les vivants et la mort (The Living and the Dead), 1973.
- Une Suisse au-dessus de tout soupçon (Switzerland Exposed), 1976.
- Main basse sur l'Afrique (Pillage on Africa), 1978.
- Retournez les fusils ! Manuel de sociologie d'opposition (Turn the Guns Around! Handbook of Opposition Sociology), 1980.
- La Suisse, l'or et les morts (The Swiss, the Gold, and the Dead), 1997.
- La faim dans le monde expliquée à mon fils (World Hunger Explained to my Son), 1999.
- Les nouveaux maîtres du monde et ceux qui leur résistent (The New Rulers of the World and Those Who Resist Them), 2002.
- L'empire de la honte (The Empire of Shame), 2005.
- La haine de l'Occident (Hate For the West), 2008.
- Destruction massive : Géopolitique de la faim (Mass Destruction: Geopolitics of Hunger), 2011.
- Chemins d'espérance: Ces combats gagnés, parfois perdus mais que nous (Paths of Hope: These Battles Won, Sometimes Lost But Which We), 2016.
- Le capitalisme expliqué à ma petite-fille (en espérant qu'elle en verra la fin) (Capitalism Explained to my Granddaughter (Hoping She Sees its End)), 2018.
- Lesbos, la honte de l'Europe (Lesbos, Europe's Shame), 2020.
See also
In Spanish: Jean Ziegler para niños
