PHR: 20 Years

Award Recipients

Jan Egeland

2006 PHR Health and Human Rights Award Recipient

As Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator for the United Nations, Jan Egeland has leveraged his office to place human rights concerns squarely at the center of humanitarian aid work around the world.

Shortly after assuming his post at the UN in 2003, Mr. Egeland became one of the first and most influential voices advocating for international intervention to protect the people of Darfur. To draw the world's attention to the crisis, he traveled to Gereida, a town caught in the crossfire of the Janjaweed's campaign of killing, rape, and looting, with the international media in tow. He played an important role in the implementation of the peace deal that was signed in Abuja and successfully brokered an agreement to loosen travel restrictions for humanitarian aid workers. Since then, renewed fighting has forced most aid workers to leave. Mr. Egeland continues to be a strong voice for an immediate resolution to what he has called the greatest humanitarian crisis in the world.

Mr. Egeland has served as the Chair of Amnesty International, Norway and Director of the Norwegian Red Cross He has been active in historic negotiations including the UN- led peace talks leading up to the ceasefire in Guatemala, the Oslo Accords, and the Ottawa Treaty to Ban Landmines.