Yves Daccord is a renowned humanitarian leader, international strategist, influencer and changemaker. His current focus is on the theme of the impact of COVID19 on our social contract and the role of cities at the age of digital surveillance and pandemics, which is the subject of a special initiative at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society.

From 2010 to March 2020, Yves was Director-General of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), a global humanitarian organization employing 20,000 staff. A former journalist, TV producer and international relations expert, his ICRC career spanned more than two decades in a variety of posts and challenging contexts – including Israel and the Occupied Territories, Sudan, Yemen, Chechnya and Georgia. Yves was Chair of the Steering Committee for Humanitarian Response (SCHR) from January 2015 until December 2019 and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Overseas Development Institute, of the Board of the International Human Rights Film Festival and of the Board of the Humanitarian Quality Insurance Initiative.

Yves holds a degree in political science and an honorary doctorate in social sciences from the University of St. Gallen, awarded in 2017.