 jan egeland (born 12 september 1957) is a norwegian politician, formerly of the labour party. he has been the secretary general of the norwegian refugee council since august 2013. he was previously the deputy director of human rights watch and the director of human rights watch europe. egeland formerly served as director of the norwegian institute of international affairs and under-secretary-general of the un. egeland also holds a post as professor ii at the university of stavanger. egeland 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 was also secretary general of the norwegian red cross. he served as state secretary in the norwegian ministry of foreign affairs (1990â1997) and was chair of amnesty international norway. ==biography== egeland holds a mag.art. (phd) 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 peace research institute oslo (prio) and the harry s. truman research institute for the advancement of peace, jerusalem. 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,
1957_births Directors_of_government_agencies_of_Norway Labour_Party_(Norway)_politicians Living_people Norwegian_diplomats Norwegian_human_rights_activists Norwegian_non-fiction_writers Norwegian_state_secretaries United_Nations_Under-Secretaries-General