Max van der Stoel

Dutch politician and lawyer, born in Voorschoten, W Netherlands. He studied law at Leiden and worked in 1953–8 for the Wiardi Beckman Stichting (academic office of the Partij van de Arbeid (PvdA)). In 1960 he entered the Upper House for the PvdA, in 1963 the Lower House, and became secretary of state for Foreign Affairs (1965–6), and twice minister of foreign affairs (1973–7, 1981–2). He was ambassador to the UN (1983–6) and a member of the Council of State (1986–92). He took an active interest in human rights and supported military and political co-operation between Europe and the USA. In 1991 he became minister of state and was appointed UN reporter on human rights in Iraq, and in 1993 High Commissioner on National Minorities in the OSCE.

Max van der Stoel (born August 3, 1924, Voorschoten) is a Dutch politician.

In that capacity he was able to intervene, in 1993, in the fragile new state of Estonia.

Responding quickly, at the invitation of the Estonian government, the High Commissioner shuttled between both sides, securing agreements that removed a great deal of the tension and preserved Estonia's territorial integrity. It has been argued by peace-making bodies such as the Oxford Research Group that the situation could, without Van Der Stoel's personal involvement, have developed into something like the catastrophic collapse of the former Yugoslavia.

After his high school (Gymnasium A) he studied law at the Rijksuniversiteit Leiden.

From 1953 to 1958 he worked for the Wiardi Beckmanstichting, the scientific bureau of the Partij van de Arbeid (PvdA) and become international secretary for the PvdA in 1963.