Peter Sutherland
GCIH KCMG SC
Sutherland, 38, in a portrait photograph
Official portrait, 1985
UN Special Representative for International Migration
In office
12 January 2006 – 9 March 2017
Secretary-General
Succeeded byLouise Arbour
Chairman of Goldman Sachs
In office
1 July 1995 – 1 May 2015
Preceded byEdith W. Cooper
Succeeded byLloyd Blankfein
1st Director-General of the World Trade Organization
In office
1 July 1993 – 1 May 1995
Preceded byArthur Dunkel (GATT)
Succeeded byRenato Ruggiero
European Commissioner for Competition
In office
7 January 1985 – 5 January 1989
PresidentJacques Delors
Preceded byFrans Andriessen
Succeeded byLeon Brittan
19th Attorney General of Ireland
In office
30 June 1981 – 9 March 1982
TaoiseachGarret FitzGerald
Preceded byAnthony J. Hederman
Succeeded byPatrick Connolly
In office
15 December 1982 – 12 December 1984
TaoiseachGarret FitzGerald
Preceded byJohn L. Murray
Succeeded byJohn Rogers
Personal details
Born
Peter Denis Sutherland

(1946-04-25)25 April 1946
Foxrock, Dublin, Ireland
Died7 January 2018(2018-01-07) (aged 71)
Dublin, Ireland
Resting placeKilternan Cemetery Park, Dublin
Political partyFine Gael
Spouse
Maruja
​
(m. 1971)​
Children3
EducationGonzaga College
Alma materUniversity College Dublin

Peter Denis Sutherland (25 April 1946 – 7 January 2018) was an Irish businessman, barrister and Fine Gael politician who served as UN Special Representative for International Migration from 2006 to 2017. He was known for serving in various international organisations, political and business roles.

Sutherland was the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for International Migration until March 2017.[1][2] Appointed in January 2006, he was responsible for the creation of the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD).[1] He also served as President of the International Catholic Migration Commission, as well as a member of the Migration Advisory Board of the International Organization for Migration. He was a board member of Wallenberg-owned ABB and the Wallenbergs' conglomerate holding company, Investor AB.

A barrister by profession, Sutherland was a Senior Counsel of the Bar Council of Ireland. He previously served as Attorney General of Ireland (1981–1982, 1982–1984); European Commissioner for Competition (1985–1989); founding Director-General of the World Trade Organization,[3] formerly GATT (1993–1995); and chairman of Goldman Sachs International (1995–2015).[4] He received numerous awards, including the European Person of the Year Award (1988).

Early and personal life

Sutherland was born in Dublin in 1946 and was educated at Gonzaga College in Ranelagh, Dublin. He graduated in Civil Law at University College Dublin and practised at the Irish Bar between 1969 and 1980.[5] He married Maruja, a Spaniard, in 1974.[6]

Political career

Attorney General of Ireland

Sutherland was appointed Attorney General of Ireland in June 1981, serving until March 1982. He retook the post from December 1982 to December 1984.[7]

European Commissioner

Sutherland was appointed to the European Commission (EC) in 1985 and had responsibility for competition policy and, initially for 1985 only, also for education. He said that he was especially pleased to have proposed the establishment of the Erasmus Programme that allows European university students to study in other member states.[8]

He was chairman of the Committee that produced the Sutherland Report on the completion of the Internal Market of the European Economic Community (EEC), commissioned by the EC and presented to the European Council at its Edinburgh meeting in 1992.[9]

Sutherland was the youngest ever European Commissioner. He served in the first Delors Commission, where he played a crucial role in opening up European competition, particularly in the airline, telecoms, and energy sectors. He also played a major role in reinforcing state aid control, notably through the high-profile Boussac case.[10]

GATT/WTO

In 1993, he became Director-General of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (now the World Trade Organization). Later Mickey Kantor, the United States Trade Representative, credited him with being the father of globalisation and said that without him there would have been no WTO.[11] The Uruguay round of global trade talks, concluded in December 1993 with Sutherland as chair of GATT, produced a "comprehensive, rules-based and global trade regime"[12] which was the biggest trade agreement in history and established the WTO. His integral role in the successful conclusion of these negotiations has been cited as "indispensable".[13]: 69  Chairing the Uruguay Round, Sutherland "employed tactics the likes of which had never been seen before in GATT…he worked to create the sense of unstoppable momentum" by mobilising the press and media and instigating "a more aggressive public relations than the staid GATT had ever before seen".[13]: 70 

A 2013 book by Craig VanGrasstek of the Harvard Kennedy School, published by the WTO, The History and Future of the World Trade Organization,[13] details Sutherland's role in the formation and establishment of the body.

On the elevation of the role of director-general, VanGrasstek writes, "The office is shaped to a great degree by the person who occupies it, and Director-General Peter Sutherland – who served both as the last GATT director-general and the first WTO director-general – redefined the role and the links between that office and the leadership in the members in a way that gave him and his successors additional options for the conduct of negotiations".[13]: 46  Sutherland was instrumental in elevating the office of director-general to one that dealt directly with presidents and prime ministers, not just ministers, a key factor in the success of negotiations and the political esteem of the body going forward.[13]: 85  He served as Chairman of the Advisory Council to the Director-General, which produced the report on the future of the WTO, published in 2005.[14]

Business career

Sutherland (centre) with IIE director C. Fred Bergsten and US deputy Treasury secretary Lawrence Summers at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, 1997

Sutherland was the chairman of Allied Irish Banks (AIB) from 1989 until 1993.[15][3]

He was non-executive chairman of Goldman Sachs International (a registered UK broker-dealer, a subsidiary of Goldman Sachs) until June 2015.

Until June 2009, he was non-executive chairman of BP, being replaced by Carl-Henric Svanberg, formerly chief executive officer of Ericsson. Sutherland was a director of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group until the UK government took it over to avoid bankruptcy. He also formerly served on the board of ABB. He was also a non-executive director of construction materials giant CRH plc from 1989 to July 1993. CRH plc was fined in 1994 by the European Competition Directorate General for its role in the pan-European cement cartel (Case Number IV 33.126 AND 33.322).

He served on the steering committee of the Bilderberg Group until May 2014,[16] and was Honorary Chairman of the Trilateral Commission (from 2010), formerly Chairman of the Trilateral Commission (Europe) (2001–2010);[17] and vice chairman of the European Round Table of Industrialists (2006–2009).[18]

He was chairman of the Board of Governors of the European Institute of Public Administration (Maastricht) from 1991 to 1996.[19] He was also Honorary President of the European Movement Ireland.[20]

He was a member of the Hong Kong Chief Executive's Council of International Advisers between 1998 and 2005.[21]

He produced the Sutherland Report for the Portuguese government on the handover of Macao to China in January 2000.[22]

He was President of the Federal Trust for Education and Research, a British think tank; chairman of The Ireland Fund of Great Britain from 2001 to 2009, part of The Ireland Funds;[23] and a member of the advisory council of Business for New Europe, a British pro-European think-tank.[24]

He was a member of the Commission on Human Security set up by the Japanese government that reported to the United Nations in 2003.[25]

In 2005, he was appointed as Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Industrial Development Organization.[26] In Spring 2006 he was appointed Chair of the London School of Economics (LSE) Council commencing in 2008,[27] a position he held until February 2015.

Sutherland also served on the International Advisory Board of IESE Business School,[28] the graduate business school of Spain's University of Navarra.

In January 2006, he was appointed by UN secretary-general Kofi Annan as his Special Representative for Migration. In this position, he was responsible for promoting the establishment of a Global Forum on Migration and Development, a state-led effort open to all UN members to help governments better understand how migration can benefit their development goals. UN member states acclaimed the Global Forum at the UN High-Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development in September 2006, and would be launched in Brussels in July 2007.

On 5 December 2006, he was appointed as Consultor of the Extraordinary Section of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (a financial adviser to the Vatican).[29]

Sutherland was also co-chairman of the High Level Group appointed by the governments of Germany, the United Kingdom, Indonesia and Turkey to report on the conclusion of the Doha Round and the future of multilateral trade negotiations. Its report was issued in May 2011.[30]

In May 2012, Sutherland was named Honorary President of the European Policy Centre,[31] a Brussels-based independent think tank.[32]

Later years

Sutherland in 2011

In an interview with The Irish Times in early 2010,[33] Sutherland revealed that in summer 2009, during a holiday, one of his children noticed a swelling on his throat while they sat on a beach. He was back home in London within a week, undergoing a major operation. Sutherland had an operation for throat cancer in August 2009, and following the procedure, he underwent chemotherapy and radiotherapy.[33]

For Sutherland, a Europhile, the worst part about his illness was missing the "mortal combat" of fighting for the Yes vote in the second Lisbon referendum.[33]

Sutherland visited Fianna Fáil politician Brian Lenihan to tell him what a great job he thought he was doing and to say that Lenihan had the potential to be one of the great taoisigh of the 21st century. Lenihan was taken aback, he said. Sutherland believed Ireland failed in economic terms over most of the past four decades except for a "sparkling period" from 1994 to 2002 when the state took advantage of European Union (EU) changes freeing up the movement of goods, capital and services across Europe.[33]

In November 2010, he renewed his involvement in trade issues when he was appointed co-chair of an Experts Group created by the heads of government of Germany, Great Britain, Indonesia and Turkey to report on the priority actions to combat protectionism and to boost global trade. The Trade Experts Group's interim report was launched at Davos on 28 January 2011.[34]

Kofi Annan twice offered him the job of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, a fact, he said, that he had never disclosed publicly before, but he declined both times due to other commitments. He cited his work at GATT and the introduction of the Erasmus student exchange programme when he briefly held the education portfolio at the Commission in 1986 as his two most rewarding achievements.[33]

Death

In September 2016, Sutherland suffered a heart attack while attending mass at a Catholic church in London.[35] Six months later, he resigned from his post as UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for International Migration because of poor health. After a long illness, Sutherland died in Dublin on 7 January 2018, of complications from an infection, aged 71.[36]

Immigration policy

Sutherland strongly advocated unrestricted immigration into the EU. Sutherland gave his opinion to the UK's House of Lords Home Affairs Committee on 21 June 2012 as being

(a) that "at the most basic level individuals should have freedom of choice" about working and studying in other countries and that EU states should stop targeting "highly skilled" migrants (and, conversely, placing restrictions on low-skilled migrants). Sutherland also argued (b) that migration is a "crucial dynamic for economic growth" and that this is the case "however difficult it may be to explain this to the citizens of those states". Sutherland's stated opinions on policy were (a) that "it was fundamentally important for states to cooperate on migration policy rather than developing their own policies in isolation as 'no state is or can be an island'"[37]

(b) that multiculturalism is both inevitable and desirable: "It's impossible to consider that the degree of homogeneity which is implied by the other argument can survive because states have to become more open states, in terms of the people who inhabit them" and also

(c) that "the European Union, in my view, should be doing its best to undermine" any "sense of our homogeneity and difference from others". An ageing or declining native population in countries like Germany or southern EU states was the "key argument and, I hesitate to the use word because people have attacked it, for the development of multicultural states", he added.[38]

Sutherland restated his view in the syndicated article co-authored with Cecilia Malmström titled "Europe's Immigration Challenge", the opening paragraph of which declares:

Europe faces an immigration predicament. Mainstream politicians, held hostage by xenophobic parties, adopt anti-immigrant rhetoric to win over a fearful public, while the foreign-born are increasingly marginalized in schools, cities and at the workplace. Yet, despite high unemployment across much of the Continent, too many employers lack the workers they need. Engineers, doctors and nurses are in short supply; so, too, are farmhands and health aides. And Europe can never have enough entrepreneurs, whose ideas drive economies and create jobs.[39]

In June 2014, Sutherland was appointed President of the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC).[40]

Honours, awards and honorary doctorates

Sutherland received fifteen honorary doctorates from universities in Europe and America.[5]

Orders

His awards include:[5]

Other

References

  1. 1 2 "United Nations Population Division | Department of Economic and Social Affairs". United Nations. Archived from the original on 15 May 2020. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  2. ↑ "Secretary-General Appoints Louise Arbour of Canada Special Representative for International Migration | Meetings Coverage and Press Releases" (Press release). United Nations. Archived from the original on 25 April 2017. Retrieved 24 April 2017.
  3. 1 2 "WTO | former director-general Peter Sutherland". Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  4. ↑ Noonan, Laura (20 May 2015). "Peter Sutherland bows out as Goldman Sachs International chairman". Financial Times. ISSN 0307-1766. Archived from the original on 26 August 2021. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 "Biography". Peter Sutherland. Archived from the original on 17 November 2020. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
  6. ↑ Egan, Barry (4 October 2009). "Private jets fly south for Sutherland marriage". Irish Independent. Archived from the original on 18 August 2021. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  7. ↑ "Peter Sutherland: Former attorney general who headed world trade body". The Irish Times. 7 January 2018. Archived from the original on 9 November 2020. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  8. ↑ "Katherine Donnelly: A world of opportunity has opened up for all". Irish Independent. 18 September 2017. Archived from the original on 6 August 2020. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  9. ↑ Sutherland, Peter (1992). The Internal Market after 1992: Meeting the Challenge. Report presented to the Commission by the High Level Group on the functioning of the Internal Market. (commonly called the Sutherland Report). Archive of European Integration (Report). Archived from the original on 20 March 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  10. ↑ Warlouzet, Laurent (2017). Governing Europe in a Globalizing World. Neoliberalism and its Alternatives following the 1973 Oil Crisis. London: Routledge. pp. 171–3. ISBN 978-1-138-72942-1.
  11. ↑ "Leadership at a Time of Transition and Turbulence – A conversation with Peter Sutherland KCMG". Barnard's Inn: Gresham College. 8 March 2011. Archived from the original on 19 August 2021. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
  12. ↑ Heydon, Kenneth; Woolcock, Stephen (2012). The Ashgate Research Companion to International Trade Policy (PDF). Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 58. ISBN 978-1-4094-5637-7. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 January 2016.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 VanGrasstek, Craig (1 July 2013). The History and Future of the World Trade Organization (PDF). Geneva: World Trade Organization. doi:10.30875/14b6987e-en. ISBN 978-92-870-3871-5.
  14. ↑ The Future of the WTO (PDF) (Report). 2005. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 April 2017. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
  15. ↑ "Chairman of Allied Irish Banks". Peter Sutherland. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013.
  16. ↑ "Governance". Bilderberg Meetings. Archived from the original on 11 March 2014. Retrieved 30 August 2010.
  17. ↑ "Trilateral Commission Membership". Archived from the original on 13 June 2010. Retrieved 30 August 2010.
  18. ↑ "European Round Table of Industrialists". Archived from the original on 10 March 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  19. ↑ "Public Management and European Governance: The Role of EIPA" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
  20. ↑ "European Movement Ireland". Archived from the original on 8 December 2008.
  21. ↑ "CE discusses economic issues with international advisers" (Press release). 6 November 2003. Archived from the original on 1 August 2020. Retrieved 27 August 2010.
  22. ↑ "Macau in the context of EU-China relations" (PDF). Archived from the original on 6 October 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  23. ↑ "The Ireland Fund of Great Britain – Events – 2007". Archived from the original on 7 December 2008.
  24. ↑ "BNE Party Conference Programme". Business for New Europe. Archived from the original on 12 April 2010. Retrieved 30 August 2010.
  25. ↑ "Final Report of the Commission". Archived from the original on 16 May 2003.
  26. ↑ "BP Chairman Peter Sutherland UNIDO Goodwill Ambassador". Vienna, Austria: United Nations Industrial Development Organization. 2 March 2005. Archived from the original on 24 March 2008. Retrieved 30 August 2010.
  27. ↑ "Lecture by Peter Sutherland, Wednesday 22 November" (Press release). London School of Economics. 23 November 2006. Archived from the original on 7 December 2008. Retrieved 30 August 2010.
  28. ↑ "Prince of Spain Welcomes IESE Advisory Board Members". IESE News. IESE Business School. 21 April 2006. Archived from the original on 23 April 2008. Retrieved 30 August 2010.
  29. ↑ Martinson, Jane (19 January 2007). "OK, he chairs BP, but really he wants to run Europe". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  30. ↑ Final Report of the High Level Trade Experts Group (Report). BIS. Archived from the original on 28 May 2011.
  31. ↑ "Named Honorary President of the European Policy Centre". Peter Sutherland. Archived from the original on 19 October 2016. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
  32. ↑ "EPC – European Policy Centre – Independent think tank". Archived from the original on 11 October 2013. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  33. 1 2 3 4 5 "The ultimate social networker". The Irish Times. 30 January 2010. Archived from the original on 20 October 2012. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
  34. ↑ "DAVOS 2011: Trade Experts Group Report Launched". ACET. 3 February 2011. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011.
  35. ↑ "Tributes paid to former attorney general Sutherland". RTÉ News. 7 January 2018. Archived from the original on 26 August 2021. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
  36. ↑ "Peter Sutherland, former Irish attorney general, dies aged 71". BBC News. 7 January 2018. Archived from the original on 24 August 2021. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
  37. ↑ The EU's Global Approach to Migration and Mobility (PDF). UK Parliament. p. 48. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 October 2016. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
  38. ↑ "EU should 'undermine national homogeneity' says UN migration chief". BBC News. 21 June 2012. Archived from the original on 19 January 2021. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
  39. ↑ Sutherland, Peter & Cecilia Malmström (20 July 2012). "Europe's Immigration Challenge". Project Syndicate. Archived from the original on 18 August 2021. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  40. ↑ "Appointed President of the International Catholic Migration Commission". Peter Sutherland. Archived from the original on 19 October 2016. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
  41. ↑ "Oxonia > Who We Are > People". Archived from the original on 7 February 2012. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
  42. ↑ Aguisíní Appendices (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 September 2020. Retrieved 26 August 2021. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  43. ↑ "Honorary degrees". Times Higher Education (THE). 25 July 1997. Archived from the original on 26 September 2012. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
  44. ↑ Robinson, Debbie (n.d.). "Honorary Graduates of the University – Calendar – University of Exeter". Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
  45. ↑ "Golden Plate Awardees". Academy of Achievement. Archived from the original on 15 December 2016. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
  46. ↑ "Summits". Academy of Achievement. Archived from the original on 5 September 2021. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
  47. ↑ Royal Irish Academy Annual Report 2002–2003 (Report). Archived from the original on 3 June 2013.
  48. ↑ "Lord Attenborough bows out at Summer Graduation". archive.sussex.ac.uk (Press release). 24 July 2008. Archived from the original on 10 June 2017. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
  49. ↑ "The Ireland Chamber – The American Celtic Ball Honorees 2008". Archived from the original on 21 January 2011.
  50. ↑ "Minister gives green light for new school of law at UCD". UCD News. 31 July 2008. Archived from the original on 24 February 2021. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  51. ↑ "UCD officially opens €25 million Law School named after Peter Sutherland". UCD News. 2 December 2013. Archived from the original on 24 February 2021. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
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