Rudolphus Franciscus Marie "Ruud" Lubbers (; 7 May 1939 – 14 February 2018) was a Dutch politician, diplomat and businessman who served as prime minister of the Netherlands from 1982 to 1994, and as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from 2001 to 2005. He was a member of the Catholic People's Party (KVP), which later merged to become the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party.
Lubbers studied Economics at the Erasmus School of Economics obtaining a Master of Science degree and worked as a corporate director for the manufacturing company Hollandia in Rotterdam from April 1963 until May 1973 and as trade association executive for the Christian Employers' Association (NCW) from January 1965 until May 1973. After the election of 1972 Lubbers was appointed as Minister of Economic Affairs in the Den Uyl cabinet taking office on 11 May 1973. Lubbers was elected as a Member of the House of Representatives after the election of 1977 serving from 8 June 1977 until 8 September 1977. Following the cabinet formation of 1977 Lubbers was asked to become Minister of Housing and Spatial Planning in the new cabinet but declined and returned as a Member of the House of Representatives on 22 December 1977, serving as a frontbencher and spokesperson for Economic Affairs. Following the resignation of parliamentary leader Willem Aantjes Lubbers was selected as his successor taking office on 7 November 1978.
Shortly after the election of 1982 incumbent prime minister and CDA leader Dries van Agt unexpectedly announced he was stepping down and Lubbers was unanimously selected as his successor as Leader and the de facto next prime minister. Following cabinet formation of 1982 Lubbers formed the first Lubbers cabinet and became prime minister taking office on 4 November 1982. For the election of 1986 Lubbers served as lead candidate and after a cabinet formation formed the second Lubbers cabinet and continued as prime minister for a second term. For the election of 1989 Lubbers again served as lead candidate and following another successful cabinet formation formed the third Lubbers cabinet and continued as prime minister for a third term. In October 1993 Lubbers announced he was stepping down as Leader, and that he would not stand at the election of 1994 or serve another term as prime minister. He left office at the installation of the first Kok cabinet on 22 August 1994.
Lubbers semi-retired from active politics and became active in the public sector as a non-profit director and served on several state commissions and councils on behalf of the government, he also served as a distinguished visiting professor of international relations and globalization at the Tilburg University and the John F. Kennedy School of Government of the Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts from February 1995 until December 2000. In November 2000 Lubbers was nominated as the next United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees serving from 1 January 2001 until 20 February 2005. Following his retirement Lubbers continued to be active in the public sector and worked as an advocate, lobbyist and activist for humanitarian, conservation, environmentalism, sustainable development and climate change issues. He was subject to some scrutiny, such as a sexual harassment scandal in 2004 which led to his resignation from the United Nations.
Lubbers was known for his abilities as a team leader and consensus builder. During his premiership, his cabinets were responsible for major reforms to social security, stimulating privatization and sustainable development, revitalizing the economy following the recession in the 1980s and reducing the deficit. Lubbers was granted the honorary title of Minister of State on 31 January 1995 and continued to comment on political affairs as a statesman until his death at the age of 78. At 43 years, he was the youngest prime minister of the Netherlands until Rob Jetten in 2026. He was the longest-serving prime minister with until Mark Rutte overtook this record on 2 August 2022. He is consistently ranked both by scholars and the public as one of the best prime ministers after World War II. Willem Drees gekozen tot ‘Dé premier na WO II’, Geschiedenis24.nl, 15 January 2006 NRC-enquête: Drees en Lubbers beste premiers sinds 1900, NRC Handelsblad, 28 September 2013
Biography Early life Rudolphus Franciscus Marie Lubbers was born on 7 May 1939 in Rotterdam in the Province of South Holland. He studied economics at the Erasmus University Rotterdam and was a student of the first Nobel Prize in Economics laureate Jan Tinbergen. As suggested by the title of his 1962 thesis – "The influence of differing productivity trends in various countries on the current account of the balance of payments" – his main interest was in monetary affairs. He originally planned an academic career but was compelled by family circumstances to join the management of Lubbers' Construction Workshops and Machinery Fabricators Hollandia B.V.
Politics
From 11 May 1973 to 19 December 1977, Ruud Lubbers was Minister of Economic Affairs in the Den Uyl cabinet and a member of the Catholic People's Party (KVP). He was an effective if sometimes somewhat bad-tempered minister. He chose to return to Parliament on the formation of the Van Agt government in 1977, becoming senior deputy parliamentary leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), the alliance between the KVP and the other two main Christian parties. His career got an unexpected boost when the leader of the parliamentary faction of the CDA, Willem Aantjes, had to resign in 1978 because of accusations that he had served in the Germanic-SS during the Second World War. Lubbers succeeded him and suddenly found himself in a powerful political position.
In 1982, after the general election won by Prime Minister Dries van Agt, a similar thing happened when Van Agt suddenly announced he would not serve for a third term. Lubbers took over the post. He was the youngest prime minister in Dutch history; he had turned 43 only six months earlier. Major aspects of his time in office included extensive cutbacks in public spending, the launch of far-reaching deregulation and privatisation programs, and a massive demonstration in The Hague (1983) against the planned installation in the Netherlands of nuclear-armed U.S. cruise missiles (which was cancelled after all due to arms reduction talks between the US and the Soviet Union).
After leaving office in 1994, Lubbers was put forward as a candidate for the head of NATO, but the U.S. vetoed his appointment owing to concerns over his leadership abilities and lack of military experience (particularly in light of the ongoing conflicts in the Balkans). He was on the advisory board of the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF), where he was regularly involved in meetings regarding the financial and monetary system.
Lubbers was regarded by many during his time in office as an ideological heir to Margaret Thatcher. One of his campaign slogans was: "Meer markt, minder overheid" (more market, less government).
Ecological activities
In the follow-up of the Earth Summit in 1992, Lubbers engaged with the Earth Charter Initiative in cooperation with Mikhail Gorbachev and Maurice Strong. The Earth Charter document was launched in the Peace Palace in The Hague in June 2000. Lubbers was an active member of the International Earth Charter Commission and reached out, especially to youth in the Netherlands, with the message of the Earth Charter for a sustainable and peaceful world.
Academic
From 1995 to 2000, he taught Globalization Studies at Tilburg University in the Netherlands and at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in the United States. He was also vice-chairman of the Independent World Commission on the Oceans and chair of Globus, the Institute for Globalization and Development based in Tilburg.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees At the end of the year 2000, Lubbers was appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan to succeed Sadako Ogata as UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
From 1 January 2001, Lubbers headed the UNHCR, which comprised over 5,000 employees who work across the globe, and which was concerned with an estimated 21 million refugees and internally displaced in over 120 countries worldwide. During his tenure, the number of refugees worldwide decreased by almost 22%, from 21.8 million in 2001 to close to 17.1 million at the beginning of 2004.
Lubbers also favoured a generous refugee policy for the Netherlands, and he was critical of the Foreign Citizens Law (Vreemdelingenwet). He also stabilised the UNHCR's financial situation and greatly increased the financial means for the sheltering of refugees.
He annually donated some $300,000 to the refugee agency since he assumed his post in 2001, thereby covering his own $167,000 annual salary and travel expenses.
Handling of the UNHCR/SC-UK 2002 report on sexual exploitation in the aid sector in West Africa In 2002, Lubbers was criticised for his handling of a joint UNHCR/Save the Children UK report, which uncovered widespread sexual exploitation of refugee children by aid workers and peacekeepers in three West African countries (Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone). These findings, discovered unexpectedly during a broader assessment documented 67 allegations implicating 40 aid agencies and several peacekeeping battalions, often involving humanitarian workers and peacekeepers exchanging small quantities of aid for sex with children.
Lubbers publicly dismissed the findings, discredited the authors and downplayed the abuses. In an interview on 8 May 2002, he denied the problem even after the network’s own research corroborated the allegations, describing some exploitative relationships as "romances". In response, the UN General Assembly adopted resolution 57/306, 'Investigation into sexual exploitation of refugees by aid workers in West Africa' in May 2003, requiring the UN to take action at the highest level to tackle such abuses. This was followed by the UN Secretary-General's Bulletin, 'Special measures for protection from sexual exploitation and sexual abuse' in October 2003, and the formal endorsement of the Inter-agency Standing Committee's working group on sexual abuse and exploitation, established in June 2002 in response to the report.
Sexual harassment complaint
In May 2004, Lubbers was accused by Cynthia Brzak, an American UNHCR employee, of sexual harassment following a meeting in his office that was attended by two other UNHCR staff members. The complaint was reported in the media, prompting Lubbers to inform UNHCR staff about the accusation. On this occasion, he denied any wrongdoing and rejected the allegation against him. On 2 June 2004, the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), which was tasked with investigating the accusation, sent its report to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. In its public annual report to the UN Secretary-General (presented to the UN General Assembly), the OIOS reported concerning the case that it had "submitted a report to the Secretary-General supporting the allegations and recommended that appropriate actions be taken accordingly."A/59/359* Report of the Office Internal Oversight Services to the UN General Assembly, p. 31
Lubbers responded to the OIOS report in a letter setting out to (a) deny acts of sexual harassment or abuse took place; (b) establish that such evidence of the alleged misconduct as is said to exist is insufficient and flawed; and (c) conclude that the report itself would appear to be based on an irregular statutory basis and also flawed by errors of law and reasoning."