Giandomenico Picco

Giandomenico Picco (8 October 1948 – 10 March 2024), also known as Gianni Picco, was an Italian diplomat and United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, who negotiated the release of 11 hostages held by terrorists in Lebanon, earning him the epithets "chief troubleshooter" and "unarmed soldier of diplomacy" from United Nations Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar.

Giandomenico Picco was born on 8 October 1948 in Udine, Italy.

He studied at the Liceo Classico Jacopo Stellini in Udine, Italy, BA in political science at the University of Padua, MA in international relations and comparative politics at the University of California at Santa Barbara (via the U.S.-Italy Fulbright Commission), the University of Prague, and a diploma in European integration studies at the University of Amsterdam.

Picco joined the United Nations in 1973 and served there until 1992.

In 1976, Picco began working with Pérez de Cuéllar in Cyprus, where Picco was serving as political affairs officer to the United Nations Force in Cyprus who reported to its head, Pérez de Cuéllar.

In 1985-1986, Picco represented Pérez de Cuéllar (who had succeeded Kurt Waldheim as UN Secretary-General) in negotiations between France and New Zealand over the sinking of the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior.

Picco's efforts were extremely sensitive: "His trips are often shrouded in mystery, and United Nations officials have tried to keep his current movements even more secret."

Often, the only news of his whereabouts or activities were "on mission".

Pérez de Cuéllar was known to deny Picco's involvement in some active hostage negotiation, while journalists might happen to sight him in places like Damascus, Syria.

Picco led or participated in peace negotiations including:

Picco served as Pérez de Cuéllar's personal representative to negotiate release of hostages.

and may have instigated them.

Among those with whom Picco negotiated was Mohammad Javad Zarif.

Picco led hostage negotiations including:

(Among hostages Picco could not save were American soldiers William Francis Buckley and William R. Higgins. )

On 12 December 1991, US President George H. W. Bush presented the Medal of Freedom to Pérez de Cuéllar and the Presidential Award for Exceptional Service to Picco, while welcoming home American hostages Thomas Sutherland, Alann Steen, Jesse Turner, Joseph Cicippio, and Terry Anderson.

Of Picco, President Bush said, "In his years as Special Envoy at the United Nations, Assistant Secretary-General Gianni Picco has sought always to serve peace and to resolve conflict."

In 1992, Picco left the UN In 1994, he formed the international consulting firm GDP Associates for business negotiations, based in New York City.

He also became president of the Peace Strategies Project, based in Geneva, Switzerland, and US Equity Partners Holdings, LLC.

He also served as director of Levcor International, Inc., and the Carlyle Group.

The Pio Manzù International Research Centre's International Scientific Committee included Picco as vice president and Mikhail Gorbachev.

On their behalf, he presented an award to Diana, Princess of Wales.

In 1999, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan appointed Picco as Personal Representative for the UN Year of Dialogue Among Civilizations, proclaimed in 1998.

Members included Chinese philosopher Tu Weiming.

Picco married twice, firstly to Elena Carretta Toth and secondly to Kate Glucksman.

His son Giacomo Picco is an investment banker.

Picco served on the Ambassador's Council of the United Nations Association/USA, the European-American Chamber of Commerce, and the International Peace Academy.

Giandomenico Picco died on 10 March 2024, at the age of 75.

Picco's principal work, Man Without a Gun (1999), received favorable notices.

Kirkus reviews wrote, "A must-read for anyone who wants to know what the UN really does."

Publishers Weekly wrote, "This memoir of an extraordinary career reads like a combination of a thriller and a textbook on the delicate and dangerous art of diplomacy in an often explosive region."

The documentary film, Dawn at Midnight (2014) by Cetywa Powell draws in part from Picco's memoir Man Without a Gun (1999).

Picco also spoke to the World Affairs Seminar and gave a keynote address to the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy in 2017.

See Dialogue Among Civilizations