The President of the Universal Esperanto Association (, UEA) is the elected leader of the

Universal Esperanto Association The Universal Esperanto Association (, UEA), also known as the World Esperanto Association, is the largest international organization of Esperanto speakers, with 5,501 individual members in 121 countries and 9,215 through national associations (i ...

and the chief executive of the UEA steering committee (''Estraro'').

History

Prior to 1920 the President of the UEA governed the UEA Central Committee (''Komitato''), because no separation yet existed between the ''Estraro'' and the ''Komitato''. Over the decades the functioning of the presidency remained unchanged, and the president's relationship with the other ''Estraro'' members and the UEA general secretary depended on the times and on his or her nature, with correspondence between the president and the general secretary providing practical guidance for the UEA. According to the plan of Ivo Lapenna (1955), the president was to have mostly an executive role, whereas the general secretary would perform everyday duties, but this system was followed only during the time when Lapenna himself was general secretary (1955–1964). From 1936 to 1947 the majority of the organized

Esperanto movement The Esperanto movement, less commonly referred to as Esperantism (), is a movement to disseminate the use of the planned international language Esperanto.See the definition in theDeklaracio pri la Esenco de la Esperantismo ("Bulonja Deklaracio ...

left the UEA, headquartered in Switzerland, to establish the rival International Esperanto League with offices in Britain. In 1947 the two groups reunited. Because Louis Bastien, the sole IEL president, had previously been UEA president, his name appears here integrated into the main list.

Chronology

Prezidantoj de UEA en la Centra Oficejo 2016-04-30

Swiss period

*1908–1916:

Harold Bolingbroke Mudie Harold Bolingbroke Mudie (London, 30 January 1880 – 6 January 1916) was a British Esperantist. He served as the first President of the World Esperanto Association. He learnt Esperanto in 1902, having read about it on the ''Review of Reviews''. ...

(United Kingdom) *1916–1919: (vacant) *1919–1920:

Hector Hodler Hector Hodler (1 October 1887, in Geneva – 31 March 1920, in Leysin, Switzerland) was a Swiss Esperantist who had a strong influence on the early Esperanto movement. Hodler was a son of the Swiss painter Ferdinand Hodler, who after a period of ...

(Switzerland) *1920–1924: Eduard Stettler (Switzerland) *1924–1928:

Edmond Privat Edmond Privat (17 August 1889 – 28 August 1962) was a Francophone Swiss Esperantist. A historian, university professor, author, journalist and peace activist, he was a graduate of the University of Geneva and a lecturer for the World Peace Founda ...

(Switzerland) *1928–1934: Eduard Stettler (Switzerland) *1934–1936: Louis Bastien (France) *1936–1941: Karl Max Liniger (Switzerland) *1941–1947: Hans Hermann Kürsteiner (Switzerland)

British period

*1947–1947: ''( Internacia Esperanto-Ligo)'' Louis Bastien (France) *1947–1956: Ernfrid Malmgren (Sweden)

Dutch period

*1956–1960: Giorgio Canuto (Italy) *1960–1962: Harry W. Holmes (acting) (United Kingdom) *1962–1964: Hideo Yagi (Japan) *1964–1964: Harry W. Holmes (acting) (United Kingdom) *1964–1974: Ivo Lapenna (United Kingdom) *1974–1980: Humphrey R. Tonkin (United States) *1980–1986: Grégoire Maertens (Belgium) *1986–1989: Humphrey R. Tonkin (United States) *1989–1995:

John C. Wells John Christopher Wells (born 11 March 1939) is a British phonetician and Esperantist. Wells is a professor emeritus at University College London, where until his retirement in 2006 he held the departmental chair in phonetics. He is known for ...

(United Kingdom ) *1995–1998: Lee Chong-Yeong (South Korea) *1998–2001: Keppel Enderby (Australia) *2001–2007:

Renato Corsetti Renato Corsetti (29 March 1941 – 1 February 2025) was an Italian Esperantist who served as President of the Universal Esperanto Association between 2001 and 2007. Born in Rome, Corsetti supported the idea that the people of the world should b ...

(Italy) *2007–2013:

Probal Dasgupta Probal Dasgupta (born 1953) is an Indian linguist, Esperantist and activist. Dasgupta's interest in linguistics started at a very young age. He published his first article in phonology at the age of eighteen inIndian Linguisticsthe journal ...

(India) *2013–2019:

Mark Fettes Mark Fettes is an Esperantist and university professor of education, and former President of the World Esperanto Association, known by its Esperanto initials as UEA. Career in Esperantujo Fettes worked from October 1986 until January 1992 in t ...

(Canada) *2019–present: Duncan Charters (United States) {{div col end

External links

''Ĝeneralaj klarigoj pri la strukturo de UEA''
(General explanation of UEA structure), in Esperanto

(UEA by-laws), in Esperanto Esperanto history * Esperanto organizations