biography
pronunciation:
[van der stool]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1924– )
|
| biography:
| Dutch politician and lawyer, born in Voorschoten, W Netherlands. He studied law at Leiden and worked in 1953–8 for the Wiardi Beckman Stichting (academic office of the Partij van de Arbeid (PvdA)). In 1960 he entered the Upper House for the PvdA, in 1963 the Lower House, and became secretary-of-state for Foreign Affairs (1965–6), and twice minister of foreign affairs (1973–7, 1981–2). He was ambassador to the UN (1983–6) and a member of the Council of State (1986–92). He took an active interest in human rights and supported military and political co-operation between Europe and the USA. In 1991 he became minister of state and was appointed UN reporter on human rights in Iraq, and in 1993 High Commissioner on National Minorities in the OSCE. |
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