Page 58 - Bulletin 82-avril 2023

Message from Mr. Smith :

Being ITC contact point with UNCTAD, I was blessed with an opportunity to work
closely for over two decades with Klaus Netter on several projects.

Klaus, an economist and linguist, was highly devoted and dedicated to his professional
work and always ensured that his inputs and reports are factual, qualitative and
unbiased. His commitment for welfare of UN Staff was equally strong by his close
affiliation with AFICS. B. Raj Bhandari, Former Principal Adviser, ITC-UNCTAD/ WTO

Former B’nai B’rith Geneva representative Klaus Netter dedicated his life to the United
Nations and was an important voice for human rights throughout his life

He wasn’t one to like to talk about himself. Rather, Klaus Netter was a tireless, honest
worker who never lost sight of his goal of a fairer and more peaceful world. And this
even though his own life in childhood was marked by one of the darkest chapters in
human history: In 1936, at the age of five, Klaus fled with his family to Brazil to escape
Nazi persecution.

He lost his native Germany, the country where his family had lived for generations and
was well integrated. The Nazis had revoked their German citizenship when they fled.
Klaus was to live as a stateless person for 10 years in Brazil.

Klaus first attended a Brazilian kindergarten and later an American school. He spent 11
years in South America. He then moved to the United States, first to Syracuse
University and then to Berkeley, where he studied economics. In 1958 he returned to
Germany to write his doctoral thesis.

At the beginning of the 1960s, he accepted a position at the United Nations. He
remained there until 1990 with a short interruption, during which he worked in Paris as
an economist at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. At the
U.N., he worked for the Conference on Trade and Development, which he left in 1990
as deputy director.

The UNHRC was also the place where I got to know Klaus. With much wisdom and
encouragement, he introduced me to the council in his always sensitive manner. It is a
great honor for me to be able to pass on his legacy to the next generation and to
represent him as his successor at B’nai B’rith. I owe him so much as my mentor.

“Knowing Klaus has been one of the highlights of my years at B’nai B’rith,” Director of
U.N. and Intercommunal Affairs David Michaels adds. “We were privileged to work with
him on countless statements at the UNHRC, and to meet together with many
ambassadors and other diplomats. The consummate gentleman of a bygone era, his
integrity, humor and humility left a deep impression on me.”

On Dec. 7, Klaus Netter died at the age of 92. His death is a great loss for all of us. We
lose not only a dear, good-hearted friend, but also a person who spent a lifetime raising
his voice for human rights with great perseverance and wisdom.

We owe Klaus Netter immeasurably. Anyone who met him will never forget him.

56 AAFI-AFICS BULLETIN, Vol. 82 No. 1, 2023-04