Early life Rudolphus Franciscus Marie Lubbers was born on 7 May 1939 in
Rotterdam in the
Province of
South Holland. He studied economics at the
Erasmus University Rotterdam and was a student of the first
Nobel Prize in Economics laureate
Jan Tinbergen. As suggested by the title of his 1962 thesis – "The influence of differing productivity trends in various countries on the current account of the balance of payments" – his main interest was in monetary affairs. He originally planned an academic career but was compelled by family circumstances to join the management of Lubbers' Construction Workshops and Machinery Fabricators Hollandia B.V.
Politics Pierre Werner and
Prime Minister of Belgium Wilfried Martens at the
Binnenhof on 10 November 1982. From 11 May 1973 to 19 December 1977, Ruud Lubbers was Minister of Economic Affairs in the
Den Uyl cabinet and a member of the Catholic People's Party (KVP). He was an effective if sometimes somewhat bad-tempered minister. He chose to return to Parliament on the formation of the Van Agt government in 1977, becoming senior deputy parliamentary leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), the alliance between the KVP and the other two main Christian parties. His career got an unexpected boost when the leader of the parliamentary faction of the CDA,
Willem Aantjes, had to resign in 1978 because of accusations that he had served in the
Germanic-SS during the
Second World War. Lubbers succeeded him and suddenly found himself in a powerful political position.
Margaret Thatcher and Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers at a press conference in
The Hague on 19 September 1983. In 1982, after the general election won by Prime Minister
Dries van Agt, a similar thing happened when Van Agt suddenly announced he would not serve for a third term. Lubbers took over the post. He was the youngest prime minister in Dutch history; he had turned 43 only six months earlier. Major aspects of his time in office included extensive cutbacks in public spending, the launch of far-reaching
deregulation and
privatisation programs, and a massive demonstration in
The Hague (1983) against the planned installation in the Netherlands of nuclear-armed U.S.
cruise missiles (which was cancelled after all due to arms reduction talks between the US and the Soviet Union).
Pierre Trudeau at
Valkenburg Naval Air Base on 8 November 1983. After leaving office in 1994, Lubbers was put forward as a candidate for the head of
NATO, but the U.S. vetoed his appointment owing to concerns over his leadership abilities and lack of military experience (particularly in light of the ongoing conflicts in the Balkans). He was on the advisory board of the
Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF), where he was regularly involved in meetings regarding the financial and monetary system. Lubbers was regarded by many during his time in office as an ideological heir to
Margaret Thatcher. One of his campaign slogans was: "Meer markt, minder overheid" (more market, less government).
Ecological activities Omar Bongo at
Zestienhoven Airport on 7 November 1984. In the follow-up of the
Earth Summit in 1992, Lubbers engaged with the
Earth Charter Initiative in cooperation with
Mikhail Gorbachev and
Maurice Strong. The
Earth Charter document was launched in the
Peace Palace in The Hague in June 2000. Lubbers was an active member of the International Earth Charter Commission and reached out, especially to youth in the Netherlands, with the message of the Earth Charter for a sustainable and peaceful world.
Academic and Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers at the
Catshuis on 13 May 1985. From 1995 to 2000, he taught Globalization Studies at
Tilburg University in the Netherlands and at the
John F. Kennedy School of Government at
Harvard University in the United States. He was also vice-chairman of the
Independent World Commission on the Oceans and chair of Globus, the Institute for Globalization and Development based in
Tilburg.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees At the end of the year 2000, Lubbers was appointed by the
Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan to succeed
Sadako Ogata as UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Erich Honecker, Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers and Minister of Foreign Affairs
Hans van den Broek at
Zestienhoven Airport on 3 June 1987. From 1 January 2001, Lubbers headed the UNHCR, which comprised over 5,000 employees who work across the globe, and which was concerned with an estimated 21 million refugees and internally displaced in over 120 countries worldwide. During his tenure, the number of refugees worldwide decreased by almost 22%, from 21.8 million in 2001 to close to 17.1 million at the beginning of 2004. Lubbers also favoured a generous refugee policy for the Netherlands, and he was critical of the Foreign Citizens Law (Vreemdelingenwet). He also stabilised the UNHCR's financial situation and greatly increased the financial means for the sheltering of refugees. He annually donated some $300,000 to the refugee agency since he assumed his post in 2001, thereby covering his own $167,000 annual salary and travel expenses.
Handling of the UNHCR/SC-UK 2002 report on sexual exploitation in the aid sector in West Africa In 2002, Lubbers was criticised for his handling of a joint
UNHCR/
Save the Children UK report, which uncovered widespread
sexual exploitation of refugee children by aid workers and peacekeepers in three West African countries (
Liberia,
Guinea and
Sierra Leone). These findings, discovered unexpectedly during a broader assessment documented 67 allegations implicating 40 aid agencies and several peacekeeping battalions, often involving humanitarian workers and peacekeepers exchanging small quantities of aid for sex with children. Lubbers publicly dismissed the findings, discredited the authors and downplayed the abuses. In an interview on 8 May 2002, he denied the problem even after the network’s own research corroborated the allegations, describing some exploitative relationships as "romances". In response, the UN General Assembly adopted
resolution 57/306, 'Investigation into sexual exploitation of refugees by aid workers in West Africa' in May 2003, requiring the UN to take action at the highest level to tackle such abuses. This was followed by the
UN Secretary-General's Bulletin, 'Special measures for protection from sexual exploitation and sexual abuse' in October 2003, and the formal endorsement of the Inter-agency Standing Committee's working group on sexual abuse and exploitation, established in June 2002 in response to the report.
Sexual harassment complaint Helmut Kohl and Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers at the
Catshuis on 30 November 1987. In May 2004, Lubbers was accused by Cynthia Brzak, an American UNHCR employee, of
sexual harassment following a meeting in his office that was attended by two other UNHCR staff members. The complaint was reported in the media, prompting Lubbers to inform UNHCR staff about the accusation. On this occasion, he denied any wrongdoing and rejected the allegation against him. On 2 June 2004, the
United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), which was tasked with investigating the accusation, sent its report to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. In its public annual report to the UN Secretary-General (presented to the
UN General Assembly), the OIOS reported concerning the case that it had "submitted a report to the Secretary-General supporting the allegations and recommended that appropriate actions be taken accordingly." of
El Salvador. and Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers at the
Catshuis on 17 July 1989. Lubbers responded to the OIOS report in a letter setting out to (a) deny acts of sexual harassment or abuse took place; (b) establish that such evidence of the alleged misconduct as is said to exist is insufficient and flawed; and (c) conclude that the report itself would appear to be based on an irregular statutory basis and also flawed by errors of law and reasoning." Lubbers asked
Max van der Stoel, former
High Commissioner on National Minorities, to comment on the confidential report. He concluded that "the OIOS report is deficient in objectivity and impartiality." He added, "that the only two other persons in the room did not provide evidence confirming the version given by the complainant." Furthermore, he accused UN officials of leaking information to the press and recommended that an investigation of the leaks be undertaken. The Secretary-General reviewed the report and the responses of the High Commissioner and the senior manager to the report, and decided that the complaint could not be substantiated by the evidence and therefore closed the matter." He is also reported to have consulted with
Stephen Schwebel, an American judge and former President of the
International Court of Justice. The Secretary-General failed to order an investigation of the deliberate leaking by OIOS itself to the media as recommended by Max van der Stoel.
Resignation In February 2005, the case was in the news again when the British daily newspaper
The Independent obtained a copy of the OIOS report and, accompanied by an article by
Kate Holt, published its contents. Lubbers met with the Secretary-General on 18 February 2005, and resigned as High Commissioner on Sunday, 20 February 2005, stating to the press: "For more than four years I gave all my energy to UNHCR. To be frank, despite all my loyalty, insult has now been added to injury and therefore I resign as High Commissioner." The Secretary-General's office issued a statement the same day which stated that the High Commissioner's resignation was in the best interests of the UNHCR. In his letter of resignation, Lubbers stated that his resignation constituted no expression of guilt, but that he had become the victim of smearing, adding that he had resigned "in the interest of the organisation". In October 2005, Annan reiterated that he had come to the conclusion that "the evidence did not support the accusation" but that, because of ongoing media-pressure, Lubbers' resignation was in the best interests of the UNHCR. During a farewell meeting for Lubbers as High Commissioner for Refugees, he received from Acting High Commissioner
Wendy Chamberlin the first annual UNHCR Achievement Award for exceptional services to UNHCR and for the world's refugees. In a formal statement, Netherlands Prime Minister
Jan Peter Balkenende called the departure of Lubbers "bitter", since the complaint against him had been dismissed as unsustainable.
Informateur After the fall of the
Second Balkenende cabinet, Lubbers became the
informateur for the
formation of the
demissionary interim
Third Balkenende cabinet. For the
2010 Dutch cabinet formation, after coalition meetings between
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy,
Labour Party,
Democrats 66, and
GreenLeft failed to form a new
Purple government, Lubbers was asked again to become Informateur to seek possibilities for a new coalition. ==Personal life and death==