Education
Gunther Neumann studied History, Cultural Anthropology, Latin American Literature, Law and Economics, and holds a post-graduate degree in International Relations from the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna; he has done an exchange program at the École Nationale d’Administration in Paris, and has completed extended advanced vocational training and seminars on international politics, international relations, conflict resolution and mediation, and international humanitarian law and security (US-IP, Wilton Park, ICRC, OSCE, UN, Salzburg Global Seminar, and other).
Professional Experience
Gunther Neumann has more than 20 years of international experience in the field of diplomacy, negotiations, mediation and human rights, mostly in executive positions with the OSCE, the European Union, the United Nations as well as with NGOs.
He has worked in conflict and post-conflict areas of sub-saharan Africa , Central, South & South-East Asia, Central & South America, for the Intl. Red Cross, EU, OSCE, UN missions and NGOs, with vast experience in development, negotiations, facilitation, mediation.
He has furthermore worked and continues to work in democracy and election observation missions with the EU and the OSCE in the Caucasus, Asia, Africa and Latin America, ia. in Albania, Armenia, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guinea Bissau, Guatemala, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nicaragua, Paraguay and Peru.
Since 2011, he is ia. Vice President of the Herbert C. Kelman Institute for Interactive Conflict Transformation (HKI), http://kelmaninstitute.org/team/
He works as an independent consultant on democracy, election, mediation and human rights issues.
In 2010, he has been nominated by the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the “Standby Team of Mediation Experts” of the UN Department of Political Affairs for 2011
From 2008 – 2011, as Vice President of the IICP (Institute for Integrative Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding, predecessor of the HKI), he has participated in various missions, in particular to South East Asia
From 1998 – 2005, in the position of OSCE Deputy Director and Head of Conference Services and Protocol of the OSCE http://www.osce.org/), he served i.a. as secretary to the rotating chairmanships of the OSCE, ia. to Chairpersons at numerous meetings at the level of Foreign Ministers and Heads of State.
For five years (2000 – 2005), he was also Executive Secretary of the JCG-CFE (Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, http://www.fas.org/nuke/control/cfe/, http://www.armscontrol.org/factsheet/cfe, http://www.osce.org/jcg), and of the OSCC (Open Skies Consultative Commission), the implementing body for the Open Skies Treaty (http://www.osce.org/oscc)
Previously, he has worked at the Austrian Mission to the EU in Brussels; the Delegation of the European Commission Delegation in Vienna (as adviser to the Ambassador, accredited to the Austrian Government as well as to the United Nations, the UNIDO, the Atomic Energy Agency and the Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe). (http://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/vienna/index_en.htm)
He was Head of Delegation of the Red Cross in Burkina Faso / West Africa.
He was Secretary General of ÖGUT (Austrian Society for Environment and Technology, (http://www.oegut.at/en/), a mediation platform of Austrian Ministries, industry, and environmental NGOs.
He opened and has been Director of the “EU-Environmental Bureau”, a co-ordination platform of Austrian environmental NGOs (http://www.eu-umweltbuero.at)
He was Deputy Secretary General of The Austrian Society for European Politics (http://www.oegfe.at/en/).
For two years, he worked as assistant to the Secretary General of the Federation of Austrian Industries on EC-issues.
In 1991-1992, he worked as an Austrian delegate with UNICE
He has also been Lecturer with a number institutions, and has published numerous articles with international media.
He has worked as a Freelance Journalist in South and South East Asia (Burma, India, Thailand, Indonesia) & Central America, and as Trainer & Consultant on Development, Election and Human Rights issues.
Gunther Neumann has proficiency in the following UN languages: English, French and Spanish; and working knowledge in Portuguese, Modern Greek and Italian. His mother tongue is German.
