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Heidi Tagliavini

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Heidi Tagliavini (born 1950 in Basel)[1] is a Swiss diplomat noted for her service with international aid and peacekeeping missions; a 2003 profile in the monthly magazine of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung called her "Switzerland's outstanding diplomat".[2] She was charged with leading the European Union investigation into the causes of the 2008 South Ossetia War.[3]

Career

After joining the Swiss diplomatic service in 1982, Tagliavini served in the Directorate of Political Affairs of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and was posted to The Hague.[4] She was a member of the first Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Assistance Group to Chechnya in 1995.[4] In 1996, she served as Minister and Deputy Head of Mission of the Swiss embassy in Moscow.[4] From 1998 to 1999, she was the Deputy Head of the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (Unomig).[4] Returning to Switzerland in 1999, she was appointed head of Human Rights and Humanitarian Policy in the Department of Foreign Affairs.[4]

After a stint as Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for the Caucasus from 2000 to 2001,[4] Tagliavini served as Swiss Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2001 to 2002[4], and was asked by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to head Unomig in 2002.[2] She served in that position until 2006, when she returned to Berne to assume the position of deputy head of the Directorate of Political Affairs in the Department of Foreign Affairs.[5] Late 2009/early 2010 Tagliavini lead the OSCE Election Observation Mission during the 2010 Ukrainian presidential elections.[6]

EU fact-finding mission

On 21 November 2008, it was announced that Federal Councillor Micheline Calmy-Rey, the head of the Department of Foreign Affairs, had agreed to the EU presidency's request to have Tagliavini lead the EU investigation into the chain of events leading to the 2008 war between Russia and Georgia in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.[3]

The independent international fact-finding mission headed by Tagliavini was given a budget of €1.6 million. Its report was supposed to be released on 31 July, 2009, but this was pushed back to 30 September.[7]

The final report, published on 30 September 2009, concluded that large scale action started by Georgia's artillery attack on Tskhinvali, but both sides bore responsibility for escalating the conflict. The commission could find no evidence to support the Georgian claim of a prior massiveRussian invasion, however Russian troops "other than peacekeepers" were present before beginning of the conflict. Report also concluded that Russia was responsible for a long history of provocation in the region and reacted disproportionately.[8] The initial Russian response would be justified, if there was an attack on Russian peace keepers (the commission couldn't determine whether such attack took place) and its later stage was disproportionate and in violation of international law as was Russia's recognition of the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The report states that there were no substantiation for Russian claims of Georgia's intentions of Ossetian "genocide". It also holds that the ethnic cleansing of Georgians in South Ossetia was committed by ossetian militia, and that it is unclear if Russia should be held responsible for the actions of the various Ossetian militia.[9][10]

Publications

Tagliavini co-published a book, The Caucasus - Defence of the Future (2001),[11] in which she recounts her Chechnya experiences. An amateur photographer, she is also the author of Zeichen der Zerstörung,[12] a book featuring her photographs of war-torn Chechnya.[13]

References

  1. ^ "Ernennung von Botschafterin Heidi Tagliavini zur persönlichen Vertreterin des Amtierenden Vorsitzenden der OSZE für Missionen im Kaukasus" (in German). Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. 13 January 2000. Retrieved 2008-11-21.
  2. ^ a b Dietrich, Andreas. "Madame Courage" (in German). NZZ Folio 09/2003. Retrieved 2008-11-21.
  3. ^ a b "Tagliavini to lead Georgia inquiry". Swissinfo. 21 November 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-21.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g "UN press release SG/A/801". 23 May 2005. Retrieved 2008-11-21.
  5. ^ "Une Suissesse pressentie pour enquêter sur la guerre en Géorgie" (in French). 24 heures. 21 November 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-21.
  6. ^ OSCE/ODIHR officially opens election observation mission for presidential election in Ukraine, Kyiv Post (November 26, 2009)
  7. ^ "Saakashvili returns to war". RIA Novosti. 2009-08-06. Archived from the original on 2009-08-11. Retrieved 2009-08-06. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ "Georgia began war with Russia, but it was provoked, inquiry finds". The Independent. 2009-09-01. Retrieved 2009-09-30.
  9. ^ "Final report, volume II" (PDF). Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Conflict in Georgia. 2009-09-30. Retrieved 2009-09-30.
  10. ^ "Georgia started war with Russia: EU-backed report". Reuters. 2009-09-30. Retrieved 2009-09-30.
  11. ^ ISBN 385256171X.
  12. ^ ISBN 978-3-7165-1144-2.
  13. ^ Habicht, Claudio (30 October 2008). "Heidi Tagliavini – Topdiplomatin auf «Mission Impossible»" (in German). Tages-Anzeiger. Retrieved 2008-11-21.
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