Kjerstin Askholt | |
---|---|
Governor of Svalbard | |
In office 1 October 2015 –24 June 2021 | |
Preceded by | Odd Olsen Ingerø |
Succeeded by | Lars Fause |
Personal details | |
Born | Oslo,Norway | 7 May 1962
Kjerstin Askholt (born 7 May 1962) is a Norwegian civil servant. She was the governor of Svalbard from 2015 to 2021.
Askholt was the deputy director of Bredtveit Prison from 1990 to 1991,deputy director of the Ministry of Justice from 1996 to 1999,and was from 2003,deputy under-secretary of state at the Polar Department of the Ministry of Justice. She was appointed Governor of Svalbard on 1 October 2015. [1]
Svalbard,previously known as Spitsbergen or Spitzbergen,is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. North of mainland Europe,it lies about midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole. The islands of the group range from 74°to 81°north latitude,and from 10°to 35°east longitude. The largest island is Spitsbergen,followed in size by Nordaustlandet and Edgeøya. The largest settlement is Longyearbyen on the west coast of Spitsbergen.
Spitsbergen is the largest and the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in northern Norway in the Arctic Ocean.
Svalbard and Jan Mayen is a statistical designation defined by ISO 3166-1 for a collective grouping of two remote jurisdictions of Norway:Svalbard and Jan Mayen. While the two are combined for the purposes of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) category,they are not administratively related. This has further resulted in the country code top-level domain .sj being issued for Svalbard and Jan Mayen,and ISO 3166-2:SJ. The United Nations Statistics Division also uses this code,but has named it the Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands.
Longyearbyen is the world's northernmost settlement with a population greater than 1,000,and the largest inhabited area of Svalbard,Norway. It stretches along the foot of the left bank of the Longyear Valley and on the shore of Adventfjorden,the short estuary leading into Isfjorden on the west coast of Spitsbergen,the island's broadest inlet. As of 2002 Longyearbyen Community Council became an official Norwegian municipality. It is the seat of the Governor of Svalbard. The town's mayor is Arild Olsen.
The governor of Svalbard represents the Norwegian government in exercising its sovereignty over the Svalbard archipelago (Spitsbergen).
Svalbard lies under the sovereignty of Norway,but the Svalbard Treaty places several restrictions. Norway cannot use the archipelago for warlike purposes,cannot discriminate economic activity based on nationality and is required to conserve the natural environment. Uniquely,Svalbard is an entirely visa-free zone. Everybody may live and work in Svalbard indefinitely regardless of country of citizenship. Svalbard Treaty grants treaty nationals equal right of abode as Norwegian nationals. Non-treaty nationals may live and work indefinitely visa-free as well. "Regulations concerning rejection and expulsion from Svalbard" is in force on non-discriminatory basis.
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Per Ottar Sefland is a previous Governor of Svalbard. He served from 1 October 2005 to 16 September 2009.
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ISO 3166-2:SJ is the entry for Svalbard and Jan Mayen in ISO 3166-2,part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The standard defines codes for names of principal subdivisions of all countries coded in ISO 3166-1. Svalbard and Jan Mayen does not exist as an administrative region,but rather consists of two separate parts of Norway under separate jurisdictions—Svalbard and Jan Mayen. Further subdivision for Svalbard and Jan Mayen occurs under Norway's entry,ISO 3166-2:NO,namely NO-21 for Svalbard and NO-22 for Jan Mayen. There are currently no ISO 3166-2 codes for Svalbard and Jan Mayen.
The economy of Svalbard is dominated by coal mining,tourism and research. In 2007,there were 484 people working in the mining sector,211 people working in the tourism sector and 111 people working in the education sector. The same year,mining gave a revenue of 2.008 billion kr,tourism NOK 317 million and research 142 million. In 2006,the average income for economically active people was NOK 494,700,or 23% higher than on the mainland. Almost all housing is owned by the various employers and institutions and rented to their employees;there are only a few privately owned houses,most of which are recreational cabins. Because of this,it is nearly impossible to live on Svalbard without working for an established institution. The Spitsbergen Treaty and Svalbard Act established Svalbard as an economic free zone and demilitarized zone in 1925.
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Cannabis in Svalbard is illegal. Practically functioning as ungoverned terra nullius prior to the Svalbard Treaty of 1920,the Arctic Ocean archipelago dominated by glaciers and barren rock,is part of Norway,and hence Norwegian law applies. Under it,there is a sliding scale approach to cannabis legislation. Possession for personal use,defined as up to 15 grams,is punished with a fine of between roughly 1,500 and 15,000 Norwegian kroner. Possession of amounts larger than that is punished by jail,ranging from 6 months all the way up to 21 years. These laws are enforced by the Norwegian Police Service,the small Svalbard district of which is run by the Governor of Svalbard.
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