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He volunteered for the French army in 1938, and shortly after the war began became a liaison officer in the
British Expeditionary Force, and as such took part in the campaigns in Belgium and France. Back in
London, he contacted the General de Gaulle and was seconded and "licensed" to a regiment of the Royal
Marines where he stayed with the rank of major until 1945, having taken part in the fighting in both Italy and
France.
At the UN after a period in the Languages Division, he spent almost his whole career in the Department of
Social Affairs and was appointed Secretary-General of the UN Research Institute for Social Development.
He also played an active role in the social life of the UN and was a founder of both the Ski Club and the UN
Beach Club.
After retirement, he collaborated closely for many years with the founder and Secretary-General of the Pan-
African Institute for Development, Fernand Vincent. He was also a member of the Administrative Council of
the IUED and undertook a number of missions for the UN and the ILO, both official and accompanied by his
wife.
In 1975, he was a pioneer in founding – following the example of the first Third Age University created by
Professor Pierre Vellas of Toulouse – together with the late William Geisendorf, André Chavanne and
Bernard Ducret, the Geneva Third Age University. He took an active part as an adviser on international
organizations to the Uni 3 Committee, and for 15 years with his wife helped to ensure the proper functioning
of this institution, presiding with her the Group on "Religions and Philosophy".
In 1953 he married in Ecuador Yolande de Caritat de Peruzzis, who gave him two sons, Gilles Lambert-
Lamond and Christophe Lambert, the well-known actor.
He died on 18 October 2003 after 50 years of happiness with his wife, Yolande.
NEWS OF OTHER ORGANIZATIONS
MICHEL JARRAUD, SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION
(WMO)
Mr Michel Jarraud (France) who was appointed as Secretary-General of the World Meteorological
Organization by the 14 th World Meteorological Congress (Geneva, May 2003) for a period of four years, will
take office as from 1 January 2004. A graduate of the Paris Polytechnic and the National Meteorological
School, Mr Jarraud started his career in the French meteorological service before joining as a research
worker in numerical forecasting the European Centre for medium-term meteorological forecasting, of which
he was later the Deputy Director. Mr Jarraud had been Deputy Secretary-General of WMO since 1995.
Mr Jarraud succeeds Mr Godwin O.P. Obasi (Nigeria) who was Secretary-General of WMO since 1984.
THE RETURN OF THE UNITED STATES TO UNESCO
André Varchaver
UNESCO : 1959-1981
UNOG : 1981-1986
On October 1 st , 2003, after an absence of almost
nineteen years, the United States resumed
membership in the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization which it was
instrumental in inventing and establishing.
In our era of internationalism and globalization, it is
not unreasonable to ask, but much more difficult to
relate and explain, how and why the divorce and
then reunion took place. The latter came in a
sudden and unexpected announcement by
President Bush when he addressed the U.N.
General Assembly in September 2002.
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