Gerd Müller (politician)
Gerhard "Gerd" Müller (born 25 August 1955) is a German politician of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria, who is currently serving as Director General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization since 2021.[1]
Gerd Müller
Maria Flachsbach
25 August 1955
Krumbach, Bavaria, West Germany
He was German Federal Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development from 2013 to 2021.[2]
From 1994 until 2021, Müller represented Oberallgäu in the Bundestag.[3]
Political positions[edit]
Human rights and development[edit]
In April 2014, Müller became the first member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet to publicly confront world football's governing body FIFA over its allocation of the 2022 FIFA World Cup to Qatar, criticizing that the choice contradicted global efforts to tackle climate change and that human rights breaches on the country's stadium construction sites even extended to "slave labor."[17] Later that year, he publicly accused Qatar of funding Islamic State (IS) militants, arguing that the country was the "keyword" when it comes to IS financing.[18]
In June 2017, Müller voted against Germany’s introduction of same-sex marriage.[19][3]
Relations to the African continent[edit]
Müller has in the past voted in favor of German participation in United Nations peacekeeping missions as well as in United Nations-mandated European Union peacekeeping missions on the African continent, such as in Somalia – both Operation Atalanta and EUTM Somalia (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2018), Darfur/Sudan (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018), South Sudan (2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017), Mali (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018), the Central African Republic (2014), and Liberia (2015). He abstained from the vote on extending the mandate for Mali in 2016.
During an official visit in 2019, Müller described the slaughter of some 65,000 Herero and 10,000 Nama tribespeople in Namibia between 1904 and 1908 as genocide, one of the most senior government members to use the term while compensation claims were under discussion.[20]
Personal life[edit]
Müller is Catholic and the father of two children.
