Jean Ziegler facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Jean Ziegler
Ziegler in 2009
Born	Hans Ziegler (1934-04-19) 19 April 1934 (age 91) Thun, Switzerland
Occupation	Professor, adviser, sociologist

Jean Ziegler (born Hans Ziegler, 19 April 1934) is a Swiss professor and important figure. He taught sociology at universities in Geneva and Paris. He also served as a vice-president for a committee linked to the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Before his UN roles, he was a member of the Swiss Parliament. He worked for the Social Democrats from 1981 to 1999. Jean Ziegler is well known for his strong belief: "A child who dies from hunger is a murdered child." He has written many books and gives talks around the world.

Jean Ziegler's Early Life and Education

Jean Ziegler was born in Thun, Switzerland, on April 19, 1934. His father was a judge and a military officer.

Jean Ziegler got married and has one son. He studied at the Universities of Bern and Geneva. He earned advanced degrees in both Law and Sociology. In 1952, he met Abbé Pierre in Paris. He later became the first leader of the Emmaus charity group in Geneva. In 1964, he even drove Che Guevara around Geneva.

Ziegler was a professor at the University of Grenoble. He also taught sociology at the University of Geneva until 2002. He was also a professor at the Sorbonne in Paris.

Working in Public Office

Ziegler in 1971

In 1963, Jean Ziegler was elected to the local government in Geneva. He was a member of the Social Democrats. From 1967 to 1983, and again from 1987 to 1999, he was a member of the Swiss National Council. This is part of Switzerland's national parliament. While there, he led a group focused on relations between Switzerland and developing countries. He also worked on committees for foreign affairs, science, and international trade.

Switzerland chose him to be the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food. He held this important role from 2000 to 2008. The Swiss government was happy that a Swiss expert could help the UN with human rights. He was also one of the first 18 members of the Advisory Committee for the United Nations Human Rights Council. He was elected in 2008 and served until 2012. He was re-elected in 2013 for another term until 2016. He also advises a group called Business Crime Control, which works against serious financial crimes.

Awards and Special Recognitions

Jean Ziegler has received many honors for his work. In 1994, France made him a knight of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He has also received an honorary degree from the University of Mons in Belgium.

He was given 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 received the Gaddafi Human Rights Prize.

On January 17, 2009, he received another honorary degree from the University of Paris VIII. He is also on the advisory board for the magazine Novi Plamen. In Austria, he won the "Federal State Salzburg prize for future research" in 2008.

In 2012, he was given the "Blue Planet Award" by ethecon. This award recognized his great efforts for human rights and doing what is right.

Important Issues in His Diplomatic Work

As a UN official, Jean Ziegler worked on big global problems. He also dealt with specific issues in different countries.

Biofuels and Food Security

Jean Ziegler has spoken out against biofuels. Biofuels are fuels made from plants. He worried that growing plants for fuel would take away land needed for growing food. In 2007, he said it was "a crime against humanity" to turn farmland into land for fuel. He believed this would make the problem of world hunger even worse.

Swiss Banks and Their History

In 1997, Ziegler claimed that Swiss banks were hiding money for Mobutu Sese Seko. Mobutu was the former leader of Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). Ziegler said this was "grotesque" and that Mobutu's money was in Switzerland. In 1994, he had suggested that Switzerland take Mobutu's money and give it back to Congo. But this idea was not accepted by the Swiss parliament.

He also criticized Swiss banks for how they handled money from Holocaust victims. In 1998, he spoke to a US Senate committee. He argued against the Swiss banks and supported the claims of Jewish groups. His book, The Swiss, the Gold and the Dead, was published in 1998. It talked about how Swiss bankers might have helped finance the Nazi war machine.

The Gaddafi Prize Controversy

In 1989, a prize fund was set up in Geneva in the name of Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi. Nelson Mandela was the first person to receive this prize. Some news reports said Ziegler was on the group that managed the prize in 1989. He said he was only "consulted" and did not start the award. He also said there were "ironclad guarantees" that Libya would not control who won.

In 2002, Jean Ziegler was named as one of the winners of the Gaddafi Prize. Another winner was Roger Garaudy, a French philosopher who denied the Holocaust happened. This was seen as strange because Ziegler had worked to get money back for Holocaust victims. Ziegler refused the prize. He said he could not accept awards from any country because of his duties at the United Nations.

Some people criticized Ziegler for his connection to the Gaddafi Prize. In 2011, a Swiss TV channel reported on his alleged links to Gaddafi. Ziegler said he was never Gaddafi's friend. He also repeated that he never oversaw the Human Rights Prize. Later, Ziegler said he saw Gaddafi as "completely mad" and a murderer.

In 1996, Ziegler signed a letter supporting Roger Garaudy. He later explained that he wanted to show respect for Garaudy's fight against certain extreme ideas. He added that he strongly condemned any ideas that deny or try to make less important the genocide of Jewish people by the Nazis.

Views on Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa

During the Ethiopian famine in the 1980s, Ziegler said the world was like a "huge extermination camp." He said 40,000 people were dying of hunger every day. He blamed this on an economic system where the rich got richer and the poor got poorer.

Some critics said Ziegler advised the Ethiopian leader Mengistu Haile Mariam. They claimed he helped write Ethiopia's 1986 constitution, which created a one-party state.

In 2002, Ziegler supported the idea behind Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's land reforms. He said Mugabe had "history and morality on his side." He believed that giving land back to people was "an absolute necessity" in Zimbabwe and South Africa. He said white landowners were "colonisers" on "despoiled land." However, he also said Mugabe's land reforms were done in a "despicable context." He clarified that he was speaking for himself, not for the United Nations.

Iraq and Its Conflicts

During the time leading up to the 1990 Gulf War, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein held several Swiss people hostage. Ziegler worked to help free them. He even traveled to Baghdad himself. He was part of a group that helped release some hostages. The Swiss government did not support his efforts. Ziegler believed his group could have freed all hostages if the government had allowed medicine and milk to be sent to Iraq.

Before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Ziegler suggested that Saddam Hussein be allowed to live in Switzerland to prevent war. The Swiss government did not accept this idea. After the invasion, Ziegler accused the Coalition forces of using water and food as weapons in Iraqi cities. He said they did this to make civilians leave.

Cuba and Its Relationship with the United States

In November 2007, Ziegler praised Cuba. He said it was a good example of how a country could provide food for its people. He also praised Cuba for working with the United Nations. He said, "We cannot say that the right to food is totally respected in Cuba, but we have not seen a single malnourished person."

According to The Weekly Standard, Ziegler believed the United States was an "imperialist dictatorship." He thought the US was guilty of "genocide" against the people of Cuba because of its trade embargo.

Comments About Israel

Ziegler criticized Israel's actions in the 2006 Lebanon War. He said the International Criminal Court should check if Israel committed war crimes. He claimed Israel's bombing blocked access to food and water in Lebanon. He stated that Israel should be held responsible for violating the right to food for Lebanese civilians.

Israel's ambassador to the UN, Itzhak Levanon, said Ziegler often went beyond his role. He said Ziegler's report only focused on Israel's bombing and not on attacks by Hezbollah.

Ziegler also said that the Israeli occupation was "the worst in the history of colonialism." In 2005, he compared Gaza to "an immense concentration camp." He later said he was quoting an Israeli scholar and did not mean to compare Israelis to Nazis.

Interactions with North Korea

Jean Ziegler worked with the government of North Korea as the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food. In 2001, he reported that some of the food aid sent by the World Food Programme was taken by the army and government. In 2004, a newspaper called on North Korea to let Ziegler visit. They wanted him to help set up a way to track food aid. Later that year, Ziegler said North Korea had turned down his requests to visit five times.

Criticisms of Jean Ziegler

Some people criticized Jean Ziegler's appointment as the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food. The Weekly Standard said he was a sociologist and did not have special skills in food or farming.

A group of political figures, including Irwin Cotler, also criticized Ziegler. They pointed to his connections with leaders like Mengistu Haile Mariam and Robert Mugabe. They also mentioned his involvement with the Gaddafi Prize and his support for Roger Garaudy. This group, called UN Watch, sent a letter against Ziegler.

In 2008, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a US politician, strongly criticized Ziegler's appointment as a UN Human Rights Council advisor. She said Ziegler supported many "vicious dictators." She claimed he ignored famines and used his position to "attack America and Israel."

The American Jewish Committee (AJC) also opposed Ziegler being re-elected to the UN Human Rights Office in 2009. They mentioned his past support for Roger Garaudy and his criticisms of Israel.

Books Written by Jean Ziegler

• Sociology of the New Africa, 1964.
• Sociology and Contestation, 1969.
• The African Power, 1973.
• The Living and the Dead, 1973.
• Switzerland Exposed, 1976.
• Pillage on Africa, 1978.
• Turn the Guns Around! 1980.
• Long Live Power! 1985.
• The Victory of the Defeated, 1988.
• Swiss Whitewash, 1990.
• The Fortune of Being Swiss, 1994.
• The Gold of Maniema, 1996.
• The Rebels, Against World Order, 1997.
• The Swiss, the Gold, and the Dead, 1997.
• The Crime Lords: the New Mafias against Democracy, 1998.
• The Black Book of Capitalism, co-authored, 1998.
• World Hunger Explained to my Son, 1999.
• "UN: Still Hungry to Bed", 2001.
• The new rulers of the world and those who resist them, 2002.
• The Right to Adequate food, 2003.
• The Empire of Shame, 2005.
• Hate For the West, 2008.
• The insurrection of the conscience, 2011.
• Mass Destruction: Geopolitics of Hunger, 2011.
• Paths of Hope: These battles won, sometimes lost but that we, 2016.
• Capitalism Explained to my Granddaughter (hoping she will see its end), 2018.
• Lesbos, the Shame of Europe, 2020.

See also

In Spanish: Jean Ziegler para niños