UN humanitarian chief Egeland leaving post at end of year

When he is not visiting the most conflict-ridden regions of the world, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Jan Egeland, can be spotted in the corridors of United Nations headquarters bouncing between press interviews and high-level meetings.

The Norwegian’s boyish appearance might fool those who do not know him, but it is his voice - now considered one of the most pervasive and persistent on the global humanitarian stage - that led ‘Time’ to suggest changing Egeland’s job title to ‘World’s Conscience’, after naming him one of the top 100 ‘people who shape our world’.

Having spent more than 25 years on the humanitarian front, Egeland, 48, consistently made headlines at the UN with his unapologetically blunt approach, which emphasises the need for quick action and large contributions.

So it came as a surprise when Egeland - admired by many for his boundless energy and relentlessness in dealing with international crises - announced his intention to step down this year before his mandate officially expires in March 2007.

"My problem is that the best places to work are likely outside Norway, while the best place to live in the world is Norway," Egeland told Oslo daily newspaper, Aftenposten.

For Egeland, if recent history is an indicator, the ‘best’ places to work have also been areas experiencing the worst human conditions. Since taking over as head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in August 2003, succeeding Kenzo Oshima of Japan, Egeland has been the face of relief efforts in South Asia, Lebanon, Uganda and Pakistan.

Egeland listens to an elderly woman in Sanaee garden, Beirut, Lebanon, after the bombings in July.

As the UN’s Emergency Relief Coordinator, Egeland was first to put the Darfur region of western Sudan on the Security Council agenda. In his fourth report to the 15-member council, he stressed that the problem was not solely humanitarian access in the Darfur crisis, but security for aid workers too. His report led to the adoption of Security Council Resolution 1556, which exhorts the Sudanese government to facilitate "international relief for the humanitarian disaster by means of a moratorium on all restrictions that might hinder the provision of humanitarian assistance and access to the affected populations". The resolution also called on the Sudanese government to investigate the violation of human rights and international humanitarian law in cooperation with the United Nations.

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.

However, it was not until he became the UN’s humanitarian leader that he was widely criticised for suggesting the United States and other western nations were being "stingy" with relief funds after the 2004 tsunami. "It is beyond me why we [are] so stingy, really," Egeland told reporters. "Christmas-time should remind many western countries at least [of] how rich we have become.

The White House responded to the statement, pointing out that the US was one of the largest contributors to humanitarian relief and aid efforts. "We are busting our butts to help and comments like that don’t reflect what we are doing," said one US State Department official.

In spite of the controversy, within two days of Egeland’s remark, offers of aid poured in from around the world. Egeland continued to impress upon national authorities the need to work with the UN to help coordinate the response, asking the donor community to respond generously in the reconstruction phase as well as in the emergency phase of dealing with the immediate effects of the disaster.

While the tsunami inspired more donations than any other disaster in modern history, Egeland questioned the international community about its reluctance to acknowledge the full extent of chronic crises in Africa.

Egeland steps off a UN helicopter to survey damage and see relief efforts going in quake ravaged regions of Pakistan.

In the western Sudanese region of Darfur, 200,000 people are estimated to have died as a result of conflict between government forces, allied militias and Darfuri rebels seeking compensation for war damage and greater political autonomy, and more than two million more civilians have been displaced. Egeland declared the situation "ethnic cleansing of the worst kind" following two briefings to the Security Council on Sudan in April 2004.

In the summer of 2006, during a tour northern Israel, Gaza and Lebanon, Egeland told ‘The Jerusalem Post’ that the war between Israel and Hezbollah would create a "generation of hatred". He called for an immediate ceasefire, accusing Israel of using "excessive" and "disproportionate" force in violation of international humanitarian law, while also condemning Hezbollah of "cowardly" hiding among civilians.

Egeland dealt with peace issues in the Gaza Strip long before his role as the UN’s humanitarian chief, having orchestrated secret discussions that led to the adoption of multiple peace agreements. In 1992, Egeland co-initiated and co-organised the Norwegian talks between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO), which led to the Oslo Accord of September 1993.

He also directed the Norwegian facilitation of UN-led peace talks that produced the ceasefire agreement between Guatemala’s government and the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca, which was signed in Oslo in 1996. Egeland also led the host delegation when the Ottawa Treaty banning landmines was adopted in Oslo in 1997.

Indeed, Egeland has spent most of his life promoting human rights around the world. He was raised in the coastal city of Stavanger and has said his parents always encouraged him to be compassionate. It was this mentality that inspired him to become an activist while still at school when he volunteered for Amnesty International.

At 19, Egeland worked on the campaign for the ‘disappeared’ of Chile in the 1970s, and spent a month with an Indian tribe in Colombia. At 23, he was elected to the International Executive Committee of Amnesty International, making him the youngest member ever to hold the position. He went on to receive a degree in Political Science from the University of Oslo and became a fellow of the International Peace Research Institute in Oslo. He also attended the Truman Institute for the Advancement of Peace in Jerusalem. Egeland won a Fulbright scholarship to the University of California at Berkeley, where his thesis, contrasting American and Scandinavian diplomatic models, was published as a book.

Egeland arrives for talks with Ugandan rebels in a jungle in southern Sudan.

Before assuming one of the UN’s top humanitarian posts, Egeland served as State Secretary in the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. During his seven-year term, Egeland initiated two Norwegian Emergency Preparedness Systems that provide more than 2,000 experts and humanitarian workers for international organisations seeking expertise. After stepping down from this position, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed Egeland as his Special Adviser to Colombia from 1999-2002.

Egeland recently indicated that the main reason for his departure in December is to spend more time with his family. Travelling between conferences, conflict regions and the UN’s headquarters in New York has left little time for his wife and two children, who live in Oslo.

Both Annan and his successor, Ban Ki-moon, have said they would like Egeland to continue working for the UN, even if he is based in Norway. What role he will play has yet to be confirmed. But whether or not he remains its ‘conscience’, Egeland has successfully reminded the world that the reason for stinginess is a lack of generosity, not a lack of wealth. Although Jan Egeland’s was at times a controversial voice, the international community will be hard-pressed to find one as effective and relentless.

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