Jan Egeland

Jan Egeland (born September 12, 1957 in Norway) was the United Nations Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator from June 2003 to December 2006. Egeland was appointed by Secretary-General Kofi Annan and succeeded Kenzo Oshima. He traveled extensively, drawing attention to humanitarian emergencies.

Egeland took up the position as director of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs on September 1, 2007. Egeland also holds a post as Professor II at the University of Stavanger.

Biography

Egeland assumed his post as the Under-Secretary-General (USG) for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator (ERC) in August 2003. This position is the head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). He was preceded in the post by Kenzo Oshima of Japan.

Prior to becoming the head of OCHA, Egeland was the Secretary General of the Norwegian Red Cross. From 1999 to 2002, he was the United Nations Secretary-General's Special Adviser on Colombia. Egeland's career also includes service to his government as State Secretary in the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1990 to 1997. In that capacity, he initiated two Norwegian Emergency Preparedness Systems, which have provided more than 2,000 experts and humanitarian workers to international organizations. He has also been Chair of Amnesty International in Norway, and Vice-Chair of the International Executive Committee of Amnesty International, which he was elected on to at the age of 23, the youngest ever to hold the position. He served as Director for the International Department of the Norwegian Red Cross, Head of Development Studies at the Henry Dunant Institute in Geneva and a radio and television international news reporter for the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation.

Egeland has actively participated in a number of peace processes. He co-initiated and co-organized the Norwegian channel between Israel and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1992, which led to the Oslo Accord (Declaration of Principles) of September 1993. He directed the Norwegian facilitation of the United Nations-led peace talks leading up to ceasefire agreement between the Government of Guatemala and the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca (URNG) guerrillas signed in Oslo in 1996. He also led the host delegation when the Ottawa Treaty to ban landmines was successfully negotiated and adopted in Oslo in 1997.

Egeland has focused his efforts in alleviating the needs of this sector of the population in complex emergency situations like the Lord's Resistance Army insurgency in northern Uganda, the Darfur region in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, where millions of displaced persons are affected. He has also campaigned for addressing the needs of those affected by natural disasters, like the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, as well as raising awareness in issues such as gender mainstreaming, sexual exploitation and violence, and internal displacement.

Egeland holds a Magister Artium in Political Science from the University of Oslo. He has been a Fulbright Scholar at the University of California, Berkeley and a fellow at the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo, and the Truman Institute for the Advancement of Peace, Jerusalem.

As mentioned in his official biography, [ [http://www.un.org/news/Press/docs/2003/sga840Rev1.doc.htm] Official biography of Jan Egenland] Jan Egeland studied at Truman Institute for the Advancement for Peace in Jerusalem. His impartiality in the Lebanon conflict as an honest broker is being questioned by Hezbollah and various other groups in Lebanon. He has been accused by the Lebanese government and media of not focusing sufficiently on the humanitarian crises on Lebanon (Fact|date=June 2007), while being critical about rocket attacks on Israel. In a United Kingdom Channel 4 interview Egeland laid the blame on the crisis in Lebanon on Hezbollah who he said "Hide amongst the civilian population and which gives the Israeli air force no choice but to attack civilian structures," [ [http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/742562.html UN official accuses Hezbollah of 'cowardly blending' among civilians] Haaretz online, accessed on 30 Juli 2006. ] though he also has referred to the Israeli strikes as "a violation of humanitarian law,". [ [http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-07-23T094600Z_01_L23862127_RTRUKOC_0_UK-MIDEAST-EGELAND.xml Israel bombing breaks humanitarian law - UN official] ]

On July 28, 2006 he proposed a 72-hour cease fire between Israel and Hezbollah in order for emergency relief to move the wounded and get food and medical supplies into the war zone. Israel rejected the proposal, claiming that the humanitarian corridor it opened to and from Lebanon was sufficient for the purpose. Egeland responded that "Hizbollah is not necessarily the biggest obstacle to an agreement". [ [http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/uriks/midtosten/article1403644.ece] Aftenposten article on failure of cease fire proposal] Israel later agreed to a 48-hour halt of bombing, while reserving the right to take action against targets preparing attacks. [ [http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-fg-mideast31jul31,1,5996288.story?track=crosspromo&coll=la-headlines-frontpage&ctrack=1&cset=true Israel to Halt Bombing for 48 Hours] , Los Angeles Times, last access on 4 August 2006]

He is married, and has two daughters. In 2006, Time magazine named him one of the 100 "people who shape our world". [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1187363,00.html Jan Egeland: The World's Conscience] , Time, 25 April 2006]

In 2008 Egeland published a memoir "A Billion Lives: An Eyewitness Report from the Frontlines of Humanity" about his time at the UN from 2003-2006.

He has published a number of reports, studies and articles on conflict resolution, humanitarian affairs and human rights.

Tsunami relief

On December 27, 2004, during the initial phase of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake relief effort, Egeland said that "Christmastime should remind many Western countries how rich we have become, and if actually the foreign assistance of many countries now is 0.1 or 0.2 percent of their gross national income, I think that is stingy, really." [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/30/opinion/30thu2.html?ex=1262149200&en=bce93a8acfc03990&ei=5088 New York Times: Are We Stingy? Yes] ] According to Egeland, in his memoir "A Billion Lives" (2008), this "stingy" quote was taken out of context by the press as directed at the Tsunami relief, when in fact Egeland was addressing the long and ongoing drive by the UN for all OECD nations to contribute 0.7% of GNP to humanitarian efforts.Jan Egeland (2008). "A Billion Lives". ISBN 978-14165-6096-8 - see Chapter 5 for a lengthy discussion of this incident.] Initial response by the Whitehouse to Egeland's quote, taken out of context by the press as a direct attack on the United States (which at the time had only donated $15 million), was very negative, however Egeland subsequently clarified his remarks and all was forgiven, although Egeland became the focus of a concerted grassroots right-wing negative campaign online. However the "stingy" quote did in fact help increase the number of donations. Egeland was later quoted as saying that the donations were so large and were coming in so fast that "We really have to confirm that we heard right, that the number of zeroes was right." When reviewing the tangible, if non-monetary, assistance of the militaries of the United States, Australia, and other nations in providing disaster relief, Egeland remarked, "Those helicopters are worth their weight in gold now." "Time" magazine would later call Egeland "the world's conscious".

Lebanese aid

In July 2006, Egeland launched a $150m US aid appeal for Lebanon, following the destruction of parts of Lebanon by Israeli forces and subsequent displacement of many thousands of refugees.

Egeland, though critical of Israel, lashed out against Hezbollah in terms that no UN official has dared yet. "Consistently, from the Hezbollah heartland, my message was that Hezbollah must stop this cowardly blending ... among women and children," he said. "I heard they were proud because they lost very few fighters and that it was the civilians bearing the brunt of this. I don't think anyone should be proud of having many more children and women dead than armed men. We need a cessation of hostilities because this is a war where civilians are paying the price." [ [http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articles.asp?aid=311313&sid=WOR Stop 'cowardly blending' among civilians: Egeland to Hezbollah] ]

Gaza Violence

During a visit to Gaza to survey the damage, Egeland was quoted as saying that the bombing of a power plant would affect schools and hospitals more than the militants. "This is very clear, a disproportionate use [of power] ," Egeland told reporters. "Civilian infrastructure is protected. The law is very clear. You cannot have any interpretation in any other way." [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5213174.stm BBC: Gaza offensive 'disproportionate'] ]

Criticism

Jan Egeland has on several occasions been critizised for his way of handling relief programs. In 2007, Norwegian channel. TV2 aired a documentary "De hvite hjelperne" (lit. The white saviors) with footage and research from Malawi, concerning the Norwegian Red Cross' donation of hundreds of Norwegian M6 cargo trucks as transportation aid. M6 is formerly used by the Norwegian Armed Forces and is a cold war era vehicle. The documentary illustrated the trucks' primitive and degraded condition and how they were just not useful to the Malawi community. In the end, the donation were scrap, even tough Egeland and the red cross declared it a success. [http://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/kronikker/article1672368.ece] In March 2008, another documentary "Sultbløffen" (lit. The hunger bluff) was aired by TV2. This time concerning the 2005–06 Niger food crisis where Egeland, then UN relief coordinator, and several others were accused of bluffing and overestimating the situation. [http://esthergarvi.com/2008/03/03/the-media-has-awakened/] In Norway, Egeland has become controversial. By government and relief agencies he has become an icon of relief efforts and philanthropy. But in several media and blogging communities, he has become a figure of reckless and irresponsible relief, referring to relief that sponsors dictators and brutal regimes, and several billions of relief assets unaccounted for.

References

External links

* [http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2003/sga840Rev1.doc.htm Secretary-General Appoints Jan Egeland of Norway New Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs] , UN press release in 2003
* [http://ochaonline.un.org/ United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs]
* [http://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/kronikker/article1672368.ece The white saviors and the white trucks]
* [http://esthergarvi.com/2008/03/03/the-media-has-awakened/ Egeland accused of bluffing about starvation]