Walther Lichem

Walther Lichem, "started his professional career in 1966 at the United Nations Secretariat in New York in the field of International Water Resources, with a special focus on international river basins and with field assignments Ethiopia (creation of a National Water Resources Council), Argentina (establishment of a National Institute for Water Resources Economics, Law and Administration) and to the Senegal River Development Organisation.

"After joining the Austrian Foreign Service in 1974 he served as Consul General in Ljubljana (1976-1980) and as Ambassador to Chile (1980-1984). On his return to Vienna he assumed responsibilities in the areas of security policy and the CSCE serving as coordinator of the CSCE-meetings on human rights (Ottawa) and cultural relations (Budapest), as Deputy Director General for Development Cooperation, Chairman of the Organising Committee for the European Campaign on North-South Interdependence and Solidarity of the Council of Europe, as co-chairman of the Preparatory Committees for the first Europe-Africa and the Europe-Latin America Conferences, and as Deputy Political Director and Head of the Department of International Organisations. He also was Rapporteur on Human Rights, Democracy and Development to 1993 UN Conference on Human Rights in Vienna. From 1993 to 2000 he served as Austria’s Ambassador to Canada. During 2005/2006 he taught as Visiting Professor at the Department of Political Science of the University of Alberta.

"On his return to the Ministry he reassumed the responsibilities as Director of the Department for International Organisations. Among his assigments was the reorganisation of the UN Committee on the peaceful uses of outer space and in preparation of the World Summit on the Information Society the human rights dimension of icts and the development of electronic art.

"During his assignments in Vienna he also contributed as lecturer to the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna (1989-1993) and to the International Peace Academy Seminars on UN peace-keeping. Mr. Lichem serves on the Board of Interpress Service, Rome, a news agency specialized in global and development news (Chairman 1997-2001, Vice-Chairman 2005-) and is a member of the Board of the People's Movement for Human Rights Learning (PDHRE), New York, and Chairman of the Advisory Board of the European Training Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, Graz. From 2003 to 2006 he held the presidency of EURISY, the association of European space agencies."