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
We are also assisting the refugees who have fled across the border to Chad. As many of them have been subject to attacks by militia crossing from Sudan, UNHCR is mounting a major logistical operation to establish camps and transfer refugees away from the border zone.
We have seen 2004 and 2005 as the years of disaster,
We have no security for our work. We are witnesses to massive attacks against the civilian population.
With the resources made available today and the commitments that will come in the coming days, we will redouble our collective efforts.
We want to stay as long as we can. As we speak we have had to suspend action in many areas. Tens of thousands of people will not get any assistance because it's too dangerous and it could grow exponentially.
We have reason to fear that 2006 could be as bad as 2005.
The problem with tsunamis is that it takes hours -- or minutes -- for this wall of water to come, and there's just very, very little time.
Finally, I also come in recognition of the great work that has been undertaken by the NGOs and UN agencies that have been active for many years here, especially through the local staff and international staff here in Somaliland and in Somalia at large.
I have been working, as emergency relief coordinator, on an international scale, very hard to build a wider alliance of partners in assistance efforts.
I think now Somalia is turning a corner and we can, with the new political development, build on momentum - really build a peaceful future.
In the Horn of Africa now, there are tens of thousands dying from the extreme vulnerability they are living in.
Finally, I am encouraged to note that the Security Council issued a statement today expressing its concern about the massive humanitarian crisis in Darfur and calling on all parties to the conflict to protect civilians and reach a ceasefire.
First there is the search and rescue phase that is now ending. It is a cruel reality.
It's a cruel reality. But after a week, very few people survive.