Boutros Boutros-Ghali

Boutros Boutros-Ghali was born in Cairo, Egypt, on 14 November 1922 into a Coptic Orthodox Christian family.[2][3][4] His father Yusuf Butros Ghali was the son of Boutros Ghali Bey then Pasha (also his namesake), who was Prime Minister of Egypt from 1908 until he was assassinated in 1910.[5][6] His mother, Safela Mikhail Sharubim, was daughter of Mikhail Sharubim (1861–1920), a prominent public servant and historian.[7] The young boy was brought up by a Slovenian nanny, one of the so-called Aleksandrinke; he was closer to Milena, "his invaluable friend and confidant", than to his own mother.[8]

Boutros-Ghali graduated from Cairo University in 1946.[9] He received a PhD in international law from the Faculty of Law of Paris (University of Paris) and diploma in international relations from Sciences Po in 1949. During 1949–1979, he was appointed Professor of International Law and International Relations at Cairo University. He became President of the Centre of Political and Strategic Studies in 1975 and President of the African Society of Political Studies in 1980. He was a Fulbright Research Scholar at Columbia University from 1954 to 1955, Director of the Centre of Research at The Hague Academy of International Law from 1963 to 1964, and Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Law at the Faculty of Law of Paris from 1967 to 1968. In 1986 he received an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Law at Uppsala University, Sweden.[10] He was also the Honorary Rector of the Graduate Institute of Peace Studies, a branch of Kyunghee University Seoul.

Boutros-Ghali (left) and Moshe Dayan at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, 1979

Boutros-Ghali's political career developed during the presidency of Anwar Sadat. He was a member of the Central Committee of the Arab Socialist Union from 1974 to 1977. He served as Egypt's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs from 1977 until early 1991. He then became Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs for several months before moving to the UN. As Minister of State, he played a part in the peace agreements between President Sadat and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin.[11]

According to investigative journalist Linda Melvern, Boutros-Ghali approved a secret $26 million arms sale to the government of Rwanda in 1990 when he was foreign minister, the weapons stockpiled by the Hutu regime as part of the fairly public, long-term preparations for the subsequent genocide. He was serving as UN secretary-general when the killings occurred four years later.[12][13]

Boutros-Ghali with Naela Chohan at UNESCO in Paris, 2002

From 1997 to 2002, Boutros-Ghali was Secretary-General of La Francophonie, an organisation of French-speaking nations. From 2002 to 2005, he served as the chairman of the board of the South Centre,[23] an intergovernmental research organisation of developing countries. Boutros-Ghali played a "significant role"[24] in creating Egypt's National Council for Human Rights, and served as its president until 2012.[25][26]

Boutros-Ghali supported the Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly and was one of the initial signatories of the Campaign's appeal in 2007. In a message to the Campaign, he stressed the necessity to establish democratic participation of citizens at the global level.[27] From 2009 to 2015 he also participated as jury member for the Conflict Prevention Prize, awarded every year by the Fondation Chirac.[28]

Boutros-Ghali's wife, Leia Maria Nadler, was raised in an Egyptian Jewish family in Alexandria and converted to Catholicism as a young woman.[9][29]

Boutros-Ghali died aged 93 in a Cairo hospital, after having been admitted for a broken pelvis or leg, on 16 February 2016.[30][31][32] A military funeral was held for him with prayers led by Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria. He is buried at Petrine Church in Abbassia, Cairo.[33]

He received an honorary degree from Sciences Po, Russian Academy of Sciences, Catholic University of Leuven, Université Laval, Université de Moncton, Carleton University, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, Charles III University of Madrid, University of Bucharest, Baku State University, Yerevan State University, University of Haifa, University of Vienna, University of Melbourne, Seoul National University, Waseda University, University of Bordeaux, and Uppsala University.[34]

• The World Affairs Council Christian A. Herter memorial award, Boston (March 1993)
• The Arthur A. Houghton Jr. Star Crystal Award for Excellence de l'Institut afro- américain, New York (November 1993)
• Member of the Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques
• Honorary membership of the Order of Canada
• Honorary membership of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, Moscow (April 1994)
• Honorary foreign membership of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow (April 1994)
• Honorary foreign membership of the Academy of Sciences of Belarus, Minsk (April 1994)
• Fellow of Berkeley College, Yale University (March 1995)
• The recipient of the Onassis Award for International Understanding and Social Achievement (July 1995)

As Secretary-General, Boutros-Ghali wrote An Agenda for Peace. He also published other memoirs:

• List of Copts

• Media related to Boutros Boutros-Ghali at Wikimedia Commons
• Quotations related to Boutros Boutros-Ghali at Wikiquote
• Boutros Boutros-Ghali papers at the United Nations Archives
• Appearances on C-SPAN