Carlo Sommaruga
Member of the Council of States of Switzerland
Assumed office
2019
Member of the National Council
In office
2003–2019
Personal details
Born8 July 1959
Zürich, Switzerland
Political partySocial Democratic Party of Switzerland

Carlo Sommaruga (born 8 July 1959) is a Swiss lawyer and politician of the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland (SP). He has been a National Councilor for over a decade and since 2019 he is a member of the Council of States.

Early life and education

He was born into a family with a political background in Zürich. His father is Cornelio Sommaruga, a former diplomat and president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). He grew up in Geneva, where he studied law at the University of Geneva.[1] He obtained his lawyers license in 1989.[2]

Political career

Between 1991 and 2001 he was a member of the municipal council of Thônex and a member of the Grand Council of Geneva from 2001 to 2003.[3] He became a member of the National Council in 2003[3] and was re-elected until 2019. In November 2019 he was elected into the Council of States representing the SP for the Canton of Geneva.[4]

Political positions

In 2007 he suggested that members of the Swiss diaspora were to be represented in Parliament, which in 2009 was voted down by the Council of States.[5] Since 2017 Sommaruga was a main force behind a law which would have prohibited nuclear weapons in Switzerland, both signed by the National council and the Counci of States,[6] but on request of the Federal Councilor Ignazio Cassis, the Federal Council refused to sign it.[7]

As a member of the National Council, he was the co-president of the Parliamentarian Group for the relations to the Kurdish people.[8] He was also critical to the Israeli incursion into the Gaza strip in 2008–2009 and in 2017, he asked in the National Council if a prosecution would be launched against the Israeli politician Tzipi Livni, who visited Switzerland at the time.[9] Besides he is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement with other politicians of the SP.[10]

Professional career

He is a lawyer for the tenants' association of Switzerland in Geneva[1] and in November 2016, he was elected their president.[11][12] Since 2018, he is also the president of the board of directors of the Swiss branch of the European NGO for social justice Solidar.[13]

References

  1. 1 2 "Referentinnen und Referenten". www.eda.admin.ch (in German). Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  2. ↑ "Ordre des avocats de Genève / Ordre des Avocats de Genève". www.odage.ch. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  3. 1 2 "Ratsmitglied ansehen". www.parlament.ch. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  4. ↑ Fumagalli, Antonio. "Wahlen: Genf schickt rot-grünes Duo in den Ständerat". Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  5. ↑ "Nein zu einer Vertretung der Fünften Schweiz". Swissinfo (in German). Retrieved 22 May 2022.
  6. ↑ Habegger, Henry. "Nuklearwaffen - Warum der Bundesrat kein Atombombenverbot will – trotz Parlamentsauftrag". Aargauer Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 22 May 2022.
  7. ↑ Sommaruga, Carlo (22 January 2021). "Gastkommentar zur Aussenpolitik – Atomwaffen verbieten – jetzt!". Der Bund (in German). Retrieved 22 May 2022.
  8. ↑ "GRUPPEN DER BUNDESVERSAMMLUNG (ART. 63 PARLG)" (PDF). National Council of Switzerland. August 2011. p. 12. Archived (PDF) from the original on 30 October 2011.
  9. ↑ Renz, Frauke (2018). Internationales Strafrecht und humanitäres Völkerrecht: Entwicklungen 2017 (in German). Stämpfli Verlag. pp. 39–40. ISBN 978-3-7272-4486-5.
  10. ↑ Klein, David (21 December 2018). "Mit Ihnen rede ich nicht!". Basler Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 22 May 2022.
  11. ↑ "Nationalrat Carlo Sommaruga ist neuer Präsident des Mieterverbandes". SWI swissinfo.ch (in German). Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  12. ↑ "Medien". www.mieterverband.ch (in German). Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  13. ↑ "Vorstand | Solidar Suisse". www.solidar.ch. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
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