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Jan Egeland (born 1957 in Norway ) is the United Nations Undersecretary-General For Humanitarian Affairs And Emergency Relief Coordinator . Egeland was appointed in June 2003 by Secretary-General Kofi Annan and succeeded Kenzo Oshima . He travels extensively, drawing attention to humanitarian emergencies. BIOGRAPHY Egeland assumed his post as the Undersecretary-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, which have provided more than 2,000 experts and humanitarian workers to international organizations. He has also been Chair of Amnesty International in Norway, and Vice-Chair of the International Executive Committee of Amnesty International. He served as Director for the International Department of the Norwegian Red Cross, Head of Development Studies at the Henry Dunant Institute in Geneva and a radio and television international news reporter for the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation . Egeland has actively participated in a number of peace processes. He co-initiated and co-organized the Norwegian channel between Israel and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1992, which led to the Oslo Accord (Declaration of Principles) of September 1993 . He directed the Norwegian facilitation of the United Nations-led peace talks leading up to ceasefire agreement between the Government of Guatemala and the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca (URNG) Guerrillas signed in Oslo in 1996 . He also led the host delegation when the Ottawa Treaty to ban Landmines was successfully negotiated and adopted in Oslo in 1997 . Egeland's has focused his efforts in alleviating the needs of this sector of the population in complex emergency situations like the Lord's Resistance Army insurgency in northern Uganda , the Darfur region in Sudan and the Democratic Republic Of Congo , where millions of Displaced Person s are affected. He has also campaigned for addressing the needs of those affected by natural disasters, like the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina , as well as raising awareness in issues such as gender mainstreaming, sexual exploitation and violence, and Internal Displacement . Egeland holds a Magister Artium in , 25 April 2006 He has published a number of reports, studies and articles on conflict resolution, humanitarian affairs and human rights. TSUNAMI REMARKS CONTROVERSY On December 27 , 2004 , during the initial phase of the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake relief effort, Egeland said that "Christmastime should remind many Western Countries how rich we have become, and if actually the foreign assistance of many countries now is 0.1 or 0.2 percent of their Gross National Income , I think that is stingy, really." {Link without Title} The remark caused a U.S. media firestorm, with drawing vociferous opposition from the U.S. Government under George W. Bush . While some took offense to the comment, others supported it; '' The New York Times '' wrote that "Egeland was right on target." Disaster aid pledges from the U.S. soon increased rapidly. Egeland was quoted as saying that the donations were so large and were coming in so fast that "We really have to confirm that we heard right, that the number of zeroes was right." When reviewing the tangible, if non-monetary, assistance of the militaries of the United States, Australia, and other nations in providing disaster relief, Egeland remarked, "Those helicopters are worth their weight in gold now." NOTES EXTERNAL LINKS
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