Ян Эгеланд: Дипломат, политик и гуманитарный деятель

Norwegian diplomat and politician (born 1957)
the Norwegian politician

Jan Egeland (born 12 September 1957) is a Norwegian diplomat, political scientist, humanitarian leader and former Labour Party politician who has been Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council since 2013. He served as State Secretary in the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1990 to 1997 and as United Nations Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator from 2003 to 2006. Over the course of his career, Egeland has also served as Deputy Director of Human Rights Watch, Director of Human Rights Watch Europe, director of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, Secretary General of the Norwegian Red Cross and Chair of Amnesty International Norway. He also holds a post as Professor II at the University of Stavanger.

The son of Norwegian politician Kjølv Egeland, Egeland attended Stavanger Cathedral School. He holds a mag. art. in Political Science from the University of Oslo. He was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, where his thesis, contrasting American and Scandinavian diplomatic models, was published as a book. He was also a fellow at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) and The Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace, Jerusalem.

Egeland began working with Amnesty International while in high school, campaigning for the disappeared in Chile in the 1970s, and at age 19 spent a month working for Catholic relief organization Minuto de Dios with the Motilon people in Colombia. Egeland later served as 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 also worked 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 first attracted attention as Secretary General of the Norwegian Red Cross when he pioneered the fight against the proliferation of small arms and joined the international campaign against landmines. With the onset of war in Iraq in 2003, Egeland alerted the international community to the worsening civilian conditions in Baghdad and Basra. From 2016 until 2018, he served as de Mistura's humanitarian adviser. In early 2021, United Nations Secretary General António Guterres appointed him to a three‑person Independent Senior Advisory Panel on Syria, alongside Erika Feller and Radhouane Noucier. The panel was to provide Guterres with advice on how to strengthen the deconfliction mechanism operated by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the country.

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," though he also has referred to the Israeli strikes as "a violation of humanitarian law". On 28 July 2006, during the Israel–Hezbollah War, 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". Israel later agreed to a 48 hour halt of bombing, while reserving the right to take action against targets preparing attacks. In March 2008, Egeland gave a lecture entitled "War, Peace and Climate Change: A Billion Lives in the Balance" at the University of San Diego's Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice Distinguished Lecture Series.

On 27 December 2004, during the initial phase of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake relief effort, Egeland said that "Christmas time 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." According to Egeland, in his memoir A Billion Lives (2008), this "stingy" quote was taken out of context by the press as directed at 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. Initial response by the White House to Egeland's quote, taken out of context by the press as a direct attack on the United States (which at the time had donated $15 million), was very negative. However, Egeland subsequently clarified his remarks, and all was forgiven, although Egeland became the focus of a negative campaign online.

During a visit to the Gaza Strip 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." Egeland criticized the October 2023 Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, saying that "collective punishment is in violation of international law. If and when it would lead to wounded children dying in hospitals because of a lack of energy, electricity and supplies, it could amount to war crime." Furthermore, in light of the escalating violence in late 2023, Egeland issued a statement emphasizing the immense suffering of innocent Palestinians due to indiscriminate bombardments and sieges. He expressed deep concern over the inadequate humanitarian response, underscoring that world leaders' failure to act condemns future generations of Palestinians and Israelis to continued conflict. Egeland urged for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, stating that "history will be watching".

Egeland has chaired the United Nations panel on humanitarian access in the lengthy war in Syria and in 2017 was the UN Senior Advisor for Syria where he has advocated for simultaneous convoy exchanges and medical evacuations.

In 1989, Egeland wrote Impotent Superpower Potent Small State in which he portrayed Norway, which at the time devoted the highest percentage of its money to development of any country in the world, as a moral entrepreneur.

Egeland has been criticized for the way he handles relief programs. In 2007, the Norwegian TV channel TV2 aired a documentary entitled De hvite hjelperne (The white helpers) with footage and research from Malawi concerning the Norwegian Red Cross's donation of hundreds of Norwegian army surplus M621 trucks. The documentary highlighted the trucks' primitive construction and poor condition, and general uselessness to the Malawi community. Although Egeland and the Red Cross declared this operation a success, the trucks were little more than scrap metal. In March 2008, TV2 aired another documentary entitled Sultbløffen (The famine scam) about the 2005–06 Niger food crisis. Then UN relief coordinator Egeland was, along with several others, accused of bluffing and of blowing the situation out of proportion.

In 2006, Time magazine named Egeland one of the 100 "people who shape our world",. In 2012, the Norwegian group Ylvis produced a parody/tribute rock song about Jan Egeland, hailing him as "the United Nations superhero man" and "a peacekeeping machine". Egeland's response, in an e mail to NPR, was "I think it is hilarious with its crazy text and great tune." As of April 2024, the video has been viewed more than 20 million times.

Egeland was married to former Norwegian Minister of International Development Anne Kristin Sydnes until her death in 2017, and has two daughters.