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The Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP) is an international foundation that was established in 1995 under Swiss law to "promote the building and maintenance of peace, security and stability". The GCSP was founded by the Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports in cooperation with the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs as a Swiss contribution to Partnership for Peace (PfP).
GCSP's headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland in the maison de la paix building (the house of peace), which is owned by the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies. [1] It shares the building with the Graduate Institute, the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD), and the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF). It is the main element of the campus de la paix (the campus of peace). [2]
GCSP's core activity is the provision of executive education and training in comprehensive international peace and security policy for mid-career diplomats, military officers, and civil servants from foreign, defence, and other relevant ministries, as well as from international organisations. Participants in GCSP courses come from countries of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council, NATO's Mediterranean Dialogue, the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative, and beyond, including South and East Asia and Africa. In addition to its three long-term courses (each lasting from three to nine months) offered in Geneva, the GCSP also offers tailor-made courses in Geneva, New York City, Dakar, Amman, Baku, Addis Ababa, Yerevan and Sarajevo.
GCSP's work focuses on regional development, emerging security challenges, leadership, and crisis and conflict management.
The GCSP's governing body is the Foundation Council, which consists of representatives of 52 member states and the Canton of Geneva. On 2 September 2019, Ambassador Jean-David Levitte was appointed President of the Geneva Centre for Security Policy Foundation Council. [3] The director of the GCSP is Ambassador Thomas Greminger since May 2021. [4] The former chairman of the Foundation Council was François Heisbourg.
The Swiss government is the principal contributor to GCSP's budget. Other council members, partner states, and institutions also support the GCSP by seconding faculty, funding scholarships, and contributing to other aspects of the centre's activities.
Miguel Ángel Moratinos Cuyaubé is a Spanish diplomat and politician, a member of the Socialist Workers' Party and was a member of Congress from 2004 to 2011, where he represented Córdoba. From 2004 to 2010, he served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Spain. In 2018, he was appointed as United Nations Under-Secretary-General holding the position of High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations and assumed the position on 7 January 2019.
Juan Somavía Altamirano is the former Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO). He was elected to serve as the ninth Director-General of the ILO by the Governing Body on 23 March 1998. On 7 November 2013, he was appointed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to serve as Special Adviser on Interregional Policy Cooperation.
The Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining is an international organisation working in mine action and explosive ordnance risk reduction, with a focus on landmines, cluster munitions and ammunition stockpiles. Based in the Maison de la paix in Geneva, it is legally a non-profit foundation in Switzerland.
The Maison de la paix is a building owned by the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland. The building was designed by Eric Ott of Neuchâtel's IPAS firm. It serves as the headquarters for the Graduate Institute and houses the three Geneva Centres, which comprise the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP), the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD), and the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF). It is the main element of the Campus de la paix.
Jean-David Levitte is a French diplomat who was France's Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 2000 to 2002 and Ambassador to the United States from 2002 to 2007. He was also a diplomatic advisor and sherpa to presidents Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy.
DCAF- ; Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance is an intergovernmental foundation-based think tank that provides research and project support to states and international actors in improving security sector governance and reform.
The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, also known as Geneva Graduate Institute, is a graduate-level research university in Geneva, Switzerland dedicated to international relations and development studies.
swisspeace - the Swiss Peace Foundation is a practice and research institute located in Basel, Switzerland promoting effective peacebuilding. Partnerships with local and international actors form the basis of its work. Together with its partner organizations, swisspeace manages strategies and interventions to reduce violence and promote peace in conflict-affected contexts.
Antonio de Aguiar Patriota is the current Ambassador of Brazil to the United Kingdom and former Minister of Foreign Affairs. He took office as foreign minister on January 1, 2011, and remained in office until August 26, 2013. Ambassador Patriota is a member of the “Leaders for Peace” initiative under the chairmanship of former French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin.
Catherine McArdle Kelleher was an American political scientist involved in national and international security policy. She was Senior Fellow at the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University and College Park Professor of Public Policy at the University of Maryland. Kelleher was the Director of the Aspen Institute in Berlin from 1998 to 2001 when she was appointed Professor of Strategy at the Naval War College (2001–2006). In the 1990s she was appointed Honorarprofessor at the Free University of Berlin, and she regularly taught at the Geneva Center for Security Policy in Switzerland for over a decade.
The DiploFoundation is a non-profit organisation based in Malta, with offices in Geneva, Belgrade and Washington, D.C.
The International Security Forum (ISF) is a Swiss government-sponsored international conference on security policy in Europe, North America, and beyond. The biannual forum is held alternately in Zurich and Geneva.
The Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights is a postgraduate joint center founded in 2006 and located in Geneva, Switzerland. The faculty includes professors from both founding institutions and guest professors from major universities.
Alexei Georgievich Arbatov is a full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Head of the Center for International Security at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO), and a scholar in residence at the Carnegie Moscow Center. He is a Russian political scientist, academic, author, and former politician.
Thania Paffenholz is an academic and policy advisor working on peace processes. She is currently Director of Inclusive Peace. Thania Paffenholz has led comparative research of peace processes has contributed to peace processes in Mozambique, Angola, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, Mali, Afghanistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Yemen, Egypt, El Salvador, Syria and Colombia. She received the Wihuri International Prize in 2015 for her work as a peace researcher.
Thomas Greminger is a Swiss diplomat. He served as Secretary-General for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) from July 2017 to July 2020. Since May 2021, he has been the Director of the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP). He is a general staff officer in the Swiss army.
Thảo Griffiths was born in 1978 in Ha Giang, Vietnam. From 2007 to 2016 she was Country Director for Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (VVAF) - an American Non-Governmental Organization which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 with close partnership with the Ministry of Defense of Vietnam on banning landmines.
Abiodun Alao is a Nigerian academic and professor of African studies at King's College London and the programme director of the African Leadership Centre. He is also the chair of the King's College London Africa Community of Practice and between December 2013 and August 2015 held a visiting professorship position at the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna, Nigeria. He is the author of A New Narrative for Africa: Voice and Agency, which "examines the perception of Africa in the global system, tracing Africa's transition from a "problem" to be solved into an agent with a rising voice in the world."
Élisabeth Decrey Warner née Reusse-Decrey is a Swiss peace activist and politician. In 1998 she founded the humanitarian organization Geneva Call which set out to involve armed non-State actors in banning the use of landmines. She served as the organization's executive president until late 2017. Decrey Warner has been widely recognized for her peace efforts. She was nominated for Switzerland as one of the 1,000 women for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005, in 2012 she was awarded the Hessian Peace Prize, and in 2013 she received the French Legion of Honour.