he returned to Bern where he held senior posts at the Office of Foreign Affairs of the Swiss government, i.a. as Ambassador, Delegate for Trade Agreements. From 1984 to 1987, he was Undersecretary of State at the Office of Foreign Economic Affairs, a job he left when he was nominated to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in 1986. Cornelio Sommaruga served as President of the ICRC from 1987 to 1999, succeeding Alexandre Hay. During his tenure, the budget and the international activities of the Committee increased considerably. He maintained the neutrality of the ICRC while keeping close ties to all governments of States signatories of the Geneva conventions. One of his initiatives was to propose in 1992 the introduction of an additional symbol representing the Red Cross movement, alongside the Red Cross and Red Crescent, which would be "devoid of any national, religious or political connotation [and] would be available to States and National Societies unable to adopt either of the existing emblems". After 15 years of negotiations this emblem was finally made official as the Red Crystal at the 29th International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent in Geneva on 20 and 21 June 2006." Sommaruga was the founding President of Initiatives of Change International in April 2002, a voluntary association of independent national legal bodies of Initiatives of Change (IofC). As head of this international movement working to build bridges of trust across the world's divides, he was able to support peace and reconciliation initiatives in Africa's Great Lakes region and in Sierra Leone. He continues to serve on a number of charitable and corporate boards. Controversy Israel refused to cooperate with a team appointed by United Nations General Secretary Kofi Annan in 2002 to investigate allegations of a massacre in Jenin, partly because Cornelio Sommaruga was personally unacceptable to the Israeli government, due to allegations that he had made a remark comparing the possibility of ICRC official recognition of the Red Star of David emblem (Magen David Adom, see Emblems of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement) to recognition of a "Red Swastika". Family life Cornelio Sommaruga married Ornella Marzorati in 1957 and they have six children. His son is the politician Carlo Sommaruga. Awards Personalité suisse la plus populaire auprès des journalistes étrangers, Association de la Presse Etrangère en Suisse, 2003 Prix de la Fondation Dr. J.E. Brandenberger, 2003