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.
[2][8] In 1985–86, 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.
[8] 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."
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.
[7][8] The United Nations noted the passing of Picco as "a legendary UN staffer" who played "a major part in many key hotspots... admired by many" on 13 March 2024.
"[24] 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.
"[31] 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.