Draft:Daniel Stauffacher

• Comment: In accordance with Wikipedia's Conflict of interest policy, I disclose that I have a conflict of interest regarding the subject of this article. Tstauffac (talk) 15:37, 26 April 2025 (UTC)

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Daniel Stauffacher (born April 3, 1953 in Zurich) is a former publisher, Swiss diplomat, United Nations official, and public policy expert. He served as an Ambassador and a delegate of the Swiss Federal Council and has been involved in various international initiatives related to social and economic development, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for peace and security and global governance. He is the founder and president of the ICT4Peace Foundation and the Zurich Hub for Ethics and Technology (ZHET).

Early life and education

Stauffacher attended school in Zurich, Rome, and Canton Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Switzerland. He earned his academic Baccalaureate before pursuing higher education. He holds a Master's degree in International Affairs from Columbia University, New York, and a Ph.D. in media and copyright law from the University of Zurich. His dissertation, titled "Der Sendevertrag", has been referenced in decisions by the Swiss Federal Supreme Court.

He is also an alumnus of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School and the Geneva Centre for Security Policy.

Career

Stauffacher began his professional career managing a Swiss publishing company, H.R. Stauffacher Verlag (1979–1999). In 1982, he joined the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in New York and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), holding posts in Laos, and China.

In 1990, he joined the Swiss Federal Office for Foreign Economic Affairs (BAWI), where he was responsible for Switzerland’s economic and financial cooperation programs with China, India, Pakistan, and Vietnam. He later headed the section for economic and financial cooperation with Central and Eastern Europe. In 1995, he was posted to the Swiss Mission to the European Union in Brussels as the Economic and Financial Counsellor.

From 1999 to 2005, Stauffacher served as the Special Representative of the Swiss Federal Council and Ambassador of Switzerland, coordinating major United Nations events in Geneva: the World Summit on Social Development +5 in 2000 and the World Summit on the Information Society (2003 in Geneva and 2005 in Tunis).

He was a member of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s UN ICT Task Force, a co-chair of the UN Global Alliance for ICT and Development (GAID), and a founding trustee of the World Wide Web Foundation initiated by Sir Tim Berners-Lee. He was a co-founder and served as president of the Geneva Security Forum from 2007 to 2012.

Since 2007, Stauffacher has advised governments and UN bodies on improving Crisis Information Management Systems (CiMS) and on international cybersecurity policy and diplomacy. He co-initiated the Tech Against Terrorism project in collaboration with the United Nations and contributed to capacity-building efforts for organizations such as OSCE, African Union (AU), ASEAN, and OAS.

Stauffacher is the founder of the Zurich Hub for Ethics and Technology (ZHET) and co-founder of the Digital Peace Now initiative. He also leads a consultancy, Dr. Daniel Stauffacher + Partner, focused on building public-private partnerships for innovation.

Personal life

Stauffacher is married and has one son. He serves on the honorary board of the Zurich Human Rights Film Festival, and is a member of the Zurich Committee of Human Rights Watch.

Selected publications

1979–1999

• Der Sendevertrag, Dissertation, University of Zurich (1979)
• "Europäische Union: Vor einer neuen Erweiterung", Die Volkswirtschaft (1997)
• "Elektronisches Geld und Finanzdienstleistungen im EU-Binnenmarkt", Die Volkswirtschaft (1998)
• "Arbeits- und Sozialnormen für das Global Village", with Stephan Brupbacher, Die Volkswirtschaft (1999)

2000–2005

• "Geneva 2000: Der nächste Schritt

in der Weiterentwicklung der soziales Dimension der Globalisierung", Die Volkswirtschaft (2000)

• "Erster Weltgipfel über die Informationsgesellschaft", with Alain Modoux, *Die Volkswirtschaft* (2003)
• "The World Summit on the Information Society: Moving from the Past into the Future", ed. with Wolfgang Kleinwächter (2005)
• "Information and Communication Technology for Peace", with William Drake, Paul Currion, Julia Steinberger (2005)

2006–2010

• "ICT4Peace: An International Process for Crisis Management" (2006)
• "Technology and peace: What’s the connection?", Fortune Magazine (2008)
• "ICT for disaster management in LDCs", with Sanjana Hattotuwa (2008)
• "Report on mission to Haiti" (2009)

2011–2012

• "Peacebuilding in the Information Age", with Barbara Weekes et al. (2011)
• "Crisis Management: Understanding the Real Impact of ICTs", (2011)
• "Strengthening Crisis Information Management", UN Chronicle (2011)
• "Potential and Challenges of Open Data for crisis management", with Hattotuwa and Weekes (2012)

2013–2015

• "Confidence Building Measures and International Cybersecurity", with Camino Kavanagh (2013)
• "The Reach of Soft Power in Cybersecurity", with Camino Kavanagh (2013)
• "Voluntary, Non-Binding Norms for Responsible State Behaviour", UNODA (2017, foreword)

2016–2021

• "Digital Human Security in the Age of AI", with Barbara Weekes (2018)
• "Trust and Attribution in Cyberspace", with Serge Droz (2018)
• "ICT4Peace and the UN OEWG 2019–2021", with Paul Meyer (2021)
• "Making Cybersecurity Institution- and Capacity-Building ODA Eligible" (2020)

Public engagements and advocacy

Stauffacher has spoken at international forums including the UN Security Council, OSCE, Rio+20, Munich Security Conference, and the Internet Governance Forum (IGF). He has moderated panels and published op-eds and taught on cyber diplomacy, AI governance, and ICTs for peace.