Jan Egeland

Jan Egeland
UN Humanitarian Official
Born	(1957-09-12) 12 September 1957 (age 59) Stavanger, Norway
Alma mater	University of Oslo University of California, Berkeley
Occupation	Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council
Known for	Humanitarian work
Political party	Labour party

Jan Egeland (born 12 September 1957) is a Norwegian diplomat, political scientist, humanitarian leader and former Labour Party politician. 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.

He 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. Since 2013 he is Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, and he also holds a post as Professor II at the University of Stavanger.

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.