Jan Egeland
Jan Egeland
Jan Egelandis 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...
NationalityNorwegian
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth12 September 1957
CountryNorway
This year has really been the year of natural disasters, with nature at its worst and humanity at its best.
We stand by the report. The eviction campaign was the worst possible thing at the worst possible moment. ... The important thing now is to look to the future. We have to help these people.
Then we could have not only a tsunami-style casualty rate as we have seen late last year, but we could see one hundred times that in a worst case.
This is not enough. We have never had this kind of logistical nightmare ever. We thought the tsunami was the worst we could get. This is worse.
This will help energize further the struggle to reach the earthquake stricken communities in the Himalayas.
There are issues we disagree on frankly, but we also agree on the importance of the international community to raise its profile in pursuing humanitarian principles.
Too often, aid resembles a lottery, in which a few win, but most lose, based on considerations other than need.
This time, at least, people heard about the earthquake. Many people fled inland.
We're sending around a hat now, we don't know how much is in the hat when it's coming back - in an emergency situation,
Based on numerous accounts, including reports from our own staff, the Janjaweed militia are primarily responsible for carrying out the attacks.
The government must stop further evictions and be more flexible in allowing shelter and other programs for those affected. It must ensure that beneficiaries are assisted solely on the basis of need.
The good news is that we have very good pledges. The bad news is that we still have too few concrete commitments to the U.N. flash appeal.
The good news is that we have very good pledges, but the bad news for us is that too little is committed to the UN's flash appeal.
We're in a bad year. There have been more international disasters than usual. All the wars are continuing. The Pakistan situation will have an effect elsewhere.