“I think we are challenged in how we define humanitarian action today and how we relate to long-term needs. We are also confronted with legitimate expectations from the people who want us to respond far more thoroughly to their basic pleas than we would have done in a much more contained form of conflict.”

Swiss diplomat

Peter Maurer is a Swiss diplomat known for leading the International Committee of the Red Cross from 2012 to 2022. He is also President of the Basel Institute on Governance. He spent a decade at the head of the ICRC, guiding one of the world’s best-known humanitarian organizations. His public work is tied to diplomacy, humanitarian action, and governance.