Representatives
| Image | Name | Start of term | End of term |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Jenö Staehelin | 2002 | 2004 |
 | Peter Maurer | 2004 | 2010 [12] |
| Paul Seger | 2010 | 2015 [6] | |
| Jürg Lauber | 2015 | 2020 [13] | |
 | Pascale Baeriswyl | 2020 | 2023 |
| Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the United Nations | |
|---|---|
| Reports to | Federal Department of Foreign Affairs |
| Seat | 633 Third Avenue New York, New York, U.S. |
| Appointer | Federal Council |
| Formation | 2002 |
| First holder | Jenö Staehelin |
The Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the United Nations office was established in 2002, after Switzerland joined the United Nations. It is located at 633 Third Avenue in New York. [1]
The current Permanent Representative is Pascale Baeriswyl, who will also assume a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council on 1 January 2023.
Switzerland held observer status in several United Nations (UN) organs since 1948, but did not join the UN over neutrality concerns [2] and was a full member only of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. [2] In March 2002, the people of Switzerland voted to join the UN, and Switzerland became a member in September of that year. [3] Since then, an ambassador has represented Switzerland at the UN. [4]
Neutrality continued to be an issue but, according to the first ambassador, Jenö Staehelin, Switzerland's role as a neutral country was accepted by fellow member states. [3] Peter Maurer succeeded Staehelin in 2004 and served as the head of the budget commission of the United Nations General Assembly for the term 2009–2010. [5] Switzerland aimed to assist the United Nations to evolve into a more democratic body or to strengthen the ICC. [6] In terms of transparency, its third representative, Paul Seger, equated the election of the Secretary-General of the United Nations to the election of the Pope. [6] During the tenure of the next ambassador, Jürg Lauber, the UN celebrated its 75th anniversary and had to cope with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. [7]
In 2011 the Federal Council decided to campaign for a seat on the United Nations Security Council for the term 2023–2024. [8] Its campaign slogan was "A plus for Peace". [9] In 2020 Jenö Staehelin voiced concern about the Federal Council's goal to aim for a seat on the Security Council. [8] Recalling Switzerland's tradition of neutrality, he assumed the superpowers would eventually exert more pressure than Switzerland would be able to withstand. [8] In March 2022 the Swiss People's Party entered a motion to withdraw the candidacy. [10] Federal Councilor Ignazio Cassis stated that withdrawing from a decision taken eleven years earlier was not an option for the Federal Council and the motion did not succeed. [10] Switzerland and Malta were the only two eligible countries and it was assumed that the election would be a formality. [10] In June 2022 Switzerland was elected a non-permanent member of the Security Council, with 187 votes. [11]
| Image | Name | Start of term | End of term |
|---|---|---|---|
| | Jenö Staehelin | 2002 | 2004 |
| | Peter Maurer | 2004 | 2010 [12] |
| Paul Seger | 2010 | 2015 [6] | |
| Jürg Lauber | 2015 | 2020 [13] | |
| | Pascale Baeriswyl | 2020 | 2023 |
The foreign relations of Switzerland are the primary responsibility of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA). Some international relations of Switzerland are handled by other departments of the federal administration of Switzerland.
Kaspar Villiger is a Swiss businessman, former tobacco manufacturer and politician. He served as a member of the Federal Council (Switzerland) since 1 February 1989 for The Liberals. Villiger served two terms as President of the Swiss Confederation in 1995 and again in 2002. He previously served on the Council of States (Switzerland) from 1987 to 1989 and on the National Council (Switzerland) from 1982 to 1987.
Swiss neutrality is one of the main principles of Switzerland's foreign policy which dictates that Switzerland is not to be involved in armed conflicts between other states. This policy is self-imposed and designed to ensure external security and promote peace.
Ulrich "Ueli" Maurer is a Swiss politician who served as a Member of the Swiss Federal Council from 2009 to 2022. A member of the Swiss People's Party (SVP/UDC), he was President of the Swiss Confederation in 2013 and 2019. Formerly head of the Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports (2009–2015), Maurer has headed the Federal Department of Finance from 2016 to 2022. From 2019 to 2022, he was the longest-serving sitting member of the Federal Council.
Kurds in Switzerland are residents in Switzerland of full or partial Kurds origin. The Kurds in Switzerland mainly reside in the Cantons of Zurich, Aargau and Basel-Stadt and are descendants of migrants of refugees from the regions around Pazarcık, Kahraranmaraş or Erzincan. There are also shia kurdish migrants from Iranian Kurdistan, the region around Ilam and Kermanshah along with Feyli Kurds from Baghdad who mainly reside Geneva and Zürich
Thomas Gustav Borer is a Swiss management consultant, lobbyist and former diplomat. From 1996 to 1999 he headed the Switzerland – Second World War Task Force. He then was Switzerland's ambassador to Germany until 2002.
Martin Dahinden is a Swiss diplomat who has served as ambassador of Switzerland to the United States of America from 2014 to 2019. Dahinden presented his credentials to the President of the United States of America, Barack Obama, on November 18, 2014 at the White House in Washington, D.C. He retired in 2019.
Switzerland made detailed plans to acquire and test nuclear weapons during the Cold War. Less than two weeks after the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Swiss government started studying the possibility of building nuclear weapons, and continued its military nuclear program for 43 years until 1988. It has since signed and ratified the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Switzerland never possessed biological weapons, but did have a program of the Swiss Army high command to develop and test chemical weapons.
Regula Rytz is a Swiss historian and politician of the Green Party of Switzerland. She was a member of the National Council from 2011 to 2022. From 2012 to 2016, she was the co-president of the Green Party of Switzerland. She was the party president from 2016 to 2020.
The 2025 UEFA Women's Championship will be the 14th edition of the UEFA Women's Championship, the quadrennial international football championship organised by UEFA for the women's national teams of Europe. The tournament will be played in Switzerland from 2 to 27 July 2025. It will be the third edition since it was expanded to 16 teams. It will be the first time that the senior women's European football tournament will be held in a landlocked country. The tournament will return to its usual four-year cycle after the previous tournament was indirectly delayed to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Christine Schraner Burgener is a Swiss diplomat who most recently served as the United Nations Special Envoy on Myanmar during 28 April 2018 to October 2021. She previously served as an ambassador to Germany and Thailand.
Tamara Funiciello is a Swiss politician who currently serves as member of the National Council (Switzerland) since 2019 for the Social Democratic Party.
Élisabeth Baume-Schneider is a Swiss politician of the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland (SP) and a current member of the Federal Council. She was elected on 7 December 2022, the first ever elected member from the Canton of Jura.
Federal elections were held in Switzerland on 22 October 2023 to elect all members of the National Council and Council of States. The elections were followed by elections to the Federal Council, Switzerland's government and collegial presidency, on 13 December.
Gret Haller is a jurist and a former Swiss politician of the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland (SP). From 1993 until 1994 she presided over the National Council of Switzerland.
Roche Tower 2 is a skyscraper in the Swiss city of Basel. With a height of 205 metres (673 ft), the building replaced Roche Tower 1 as the tallest building in Switzerland after it opened on 2 September 2022.
Events in the year 1985 in Switzerland.
Pascale Baeriswyl is a Swiss diplomat, Ambassador and currently Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the United Nations (UN) in New York. She was the first woman to hold the post of State Secretary of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) and has headed the Swiss Mission to the UN in New York since June 2020. From January 2023 to December 2024, Baeriswyl will represent Switzerland on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), during the country's first ever term as an elected member of the council.
Barbara Schmid-Federer is a Swiss politician, educator, and philanthropist. A member of the Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland, she was elected to a seat in the National Council in 2007, serving until 2018. As a member of the National Council, Schmid-Federer spearheaded family policy and children's safety initiatives, including public breastfeeding and cyberbullying prevention in her platforms. She was appointed as president of Pro Juventute in 2019 and served in that capacity until 2022, when she assumed the role of Vice President. She served as President of the Swiss Red Cross between 2022 and 2023.