Head of Directorate

Ambassador Stefano Toscano has been the Director of the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) since January 2014. He brings to the Centre extensive experience in multilateral diplomacy and human security affairs following a rich career with the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Under his leadership, the GICHD is well positioned to address a broad range of topics. 

From 1998 to 2002, as diplomatic collaborator in Berne, Stefano Toscano was responsible for the dossier small arms and light weapons during which time he grew familiar with the importance and potential of the humanitarian disarmament agenda. This experience was an opportunity to establish close contacts with actors working on the small arms issue and to participate in the discussions and work that led to the creation of the Small Arms Survey in 1999. 

From 2002 to 2006, Stefano Toscano worked as a Counsellor at the Swiss Mission to the UN in New York, where he was in charge of humanitarian, environmental and migration affairs. He also served as Vice Chairman of the 2nd Committee of the UN General Assembly. After returning to Switzerland in 2006, Stefano Toscano was Head of Section, Humanitarian Policy and Migration, at the Human Security Division of the Political Directorate, then Deputy Head of Division. In the three and a half years before joining the GICHD, Stefano Toscano was the Deputy Chief of Mission at the Swiss Embassy in Cairo. 

Stefano Toscano holds a PhD in Natural Science from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETHZ) and a Master in International Relations from the University of San Diego.

• Organisation Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD)
• Division Head of Directorate
• Unit Director
• E-mail s.toscano(at)gichd.org
• Working Languages English, German, French and Italian