The International Committee of the Red Cross has appointed Swiss diplomat Peter Mauer as its next president.

Mauer is the top civil servant in the Swiss Foreign Ministry and was previously the permanent Swiss representative to the United Nations. He will become ICRC head on July 1, 2012.

Mauer will succeed Jakob Kellenberger,also a Swiss, who has headed the ICRC since 2000. Kellenberger is retiring after three four-year terms as president.

The ICRC is one of the world's oldest humanitarian organizations and serves as the guardian of the Geneva Conventions.