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EDITORIAL …IN THE FORM OF AN INTERVIEW
Jean-Jacques Chevron was unanimously elected to succeed Anders Tholle as Chairman from 1
November 2003. He wants to tell you the issues that preoccupy him and that should have priority in
our future work. He has chosen the slightly unconventional form of an interview with the Editor-in-
Chief to do this.
The Editor-in-Chief (Ed.Ch) of the AAFI-AFICS Bulletin:
Do you feel well prepared to become our new Chairman?
Jean-Jacques Chevron:
Prepared? Well, I hope so. In any case, I believe that by working in the United Nations system I’ve acquired
the experience I need to tackle these new responsibilities. I hope I’ve also acquired the humility to recognise
that you cannot do anything without the support of a team, a team as devoted and competent as you believe
yourself to be!
Ed.Ch: First of all, who are you? What sort of international career have you had?
J.-J.C: I began in the International Labour Office in 1963, a few years after finishing my studies at the
Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Paris; I retired in 1994. During my career, I served in the Paris Office of the
ILO with responsibility for fellowships and the recruitment of experts for the technical cooperation
programme. Then I was in the Sub-Regional Office for West Africa in Dakar as Deputy Director. After that I
spent four years – 1973 / 1977 – as deputy of the ILO Liaison Office with the UN in New York – a very
rewarding apprenticeship in how the UN system functions and in the relationships between the Member
States and the Organization. From there I was transferred to Teheran as ILO Representative for Iran and
Afghanistan: a fascinating experience of working in ‘the field’ but a rough confrontation with the Islamic
Revolution. In 1984, after four years of research on the social policies of multinational enterprises, I was
appointed Chief of the Official Relations Branch; this has responsibility for the organization and functioning of
the Governing Body, the Annual Conference, Regional Conferences etc. Two years before my retirement,
the Director-General asked me to examine new forms of technical cooperation – ‘active partnership’ – with
the recipient countries. I was ‘demobbed’ as they say in the army, in March 1994.
Ed.Ch: And after such an active international life both at headquarters and in the field, didn’t you fancy a
quieter life, a change of horizon?
J.-J.C. Is it necessary to change horizons when you have had the good fortune of a career which enthralled
you, in a “family” of organizations whose scope covers the whole planet? Obviously, I wanted to continue
following the work of international organizations as closely as possible and to carry out work that would be
helpful to my retired colleagues. I started in this direction in 1994 with the Section of Former Officials of the
ILO Staff Union, then with the Committee of AAFI-AFICS; I became an elected member of this Committee in
1999, while still continuing to represent the ILO Former Officials Section. Last April, I was elected to replace
Anders Tholle from 1 November 2003. It goes without saying that I now consider myself exclusively at the
service of AAFI-AFICS.
Ed.Ch: A new Chairman always wants to distinguish himself from his predecessors. What are you going to
do to change AAFI-AFICS?
J.-J. C: Why on earth would I want to change what my predecessors have accomplished? They have done
a remarkable job for our community and I want to thank them most profoundly and sincerely. A change of
Chairman is the occasion for an accounting: I do this all the more gladly because the results are extremely
positive. I believe that all our members should know what my immediate predecessors have done; for my
part, I have been a personal witness to it.
Before Anders Tholle, it was Aamir Ali, at first Vice-Chairman for five years then Chairman for seven (and
Chairman of FAFICS for ten) until 2000. Aamir contributed, more than anyone else, to securing recognition
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