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Norwegian Jan Egeland received the Freedom from Want Award in 2008 for his contribution to improving living conditions for millions of people. He wanted to make a humane world for people affected or suffering, and displaced people.

Speech Jan Egeland

More about Egeland

Politician, diplomat and journalist Jan Egeland was born in 1957 in Stavanger, Norway. Egeland worked as a journalist for the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, travelling to disaster areas as a reporter. From the age of 15, he worked for the Norwegian branch of Amnesty International. When Egeland was 23, he was elected vice-chairman of the National Executive Committee. This made him the youngest person ever to hold this position. From 1990 to 1997, Egeland was deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. He later became director at the Norwegian Red Cross and special adviser to the United Nations (UN) secretary-general for Colombia. For three years, Egeland was under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief at the UN.

Positions and publications

● Member of Amnesty International (1972 - 1980)
● Vice-chairman International Executive Committee (1980)
● State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1990 - 1997)
● Director of the Norwegian Red Cross (1999 - 2002)
● Special advisor to UN Secretary-General for Colombia (1999 - 2002)
● Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief UN (2003 - 2006)

Egeland wrote the following books:

● A Billion Lives: An Eyewitness Report From the Frontlines of Humanity (2008)
● Det nytter, Rapport fra frontlinjene (2007)
● Impotent Superpower - potent small state: potentials and limitations of human rights objectives in the foreign policies of the United States and Norway (1985)