Global Cooperation

Peter Sutherland, known as the 'father of globalisation', dies

Peter Sutherland, special representative of the United Nations Secretary general for migration and development, addresses a news conference on the current migrants crisis in Geneva, Switzerland September 8, 2015. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse - LR2EB980TR0NU

Peter Sutherland, 1946- 2017 Image: REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

Share:
Our Impact
What's the World Economic Forum doing to accelerate action on Global Cooperation?
The Big Picture
Explore and monitor how Migration is affecting economies, industries and global issues
A hand holding a looking glass by a lake
Crowdsource Innovation
Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale
Stay up to date:

Migration

Peter Sutherland, the former Irish Attorney General, European Commissioner, and "father of globalisation" has died, age 71.

Sutherland died in Dublin on Sunday morning, having been ill for some time.

Born in Dublin in 1946, he became Ireland’s youngest Attorney General at the age of 35. He went on to become the youngest European Union Commissioner, where he helped lay the groundwork for the European single market.

He was also a former Director-General of the World Trade Organisation, travelling the world to hammer out multilateral trade agreements, a role that earned him the moniker "father of globalisation".

He was active in the private sector, as a long-serving chairman of oil giant BP as well as Goldman Sachs International. He was also a member of the Foundation Board at the World Economic Forum.

For the past 10 years, Sutherland had served as United Nations Special Representative for International Migration, highlighting the urgent need for action to help the world’s most vulnerable people.

Tributes

Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum said: "With the passing of Peter the World Economic Forum has lost a great friend and a personality who was absolutely essential for building the Forum into a truly international organization with global impact."

The UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, said he was "deeply saddened" by his passing, adding that he was "fearless and forceful in his advocacy for some of the world's most vulnerable people".

European Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker, said he was a "giant of Irish, European, and international public life."

Loading...

The WTO said that they "mourn the passing of Peter Sutherland, who was instrumental in building the multilateral trading system we have today."

Loading...
Have you read?
  • Why we need political leadership to make migration safer
  • In memoriam: Peter Sutherland
Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

Sign up for free

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

Related topics:
Global CooperationTrade and Investment
Share:
World Economic Forum logo
Global Agenda

The Agenda Weekly

A weekly update of the most important issues driving the global agenda

Subscribe today

You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in our emails. For more details, review our privacy policy.

How is corporate philanthropy helping the planet in 2024?

Luis Alvarado and Rebecca Geldard

September 23, 2024

About us

Engage with us

  • Sign in
  • Partner with us
  • Become a member
  • Sign up for our press releases
  • Subscribe to our newsletters
  • Contact us

Quick links

Language editions

Privacy Policy & Terms of Service

Sitemap

© 2024 World Economic Forum