Norwegian Refugee Council

Last updated
Norwegian Refugee Council
Founded1946
Type Humanitarian NGO
Location
Fields Humanitarian Aid, Activism
Secretary General
Jan Egeland
Staff
15,000
Website www.nrc.no

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC; Norwegian : Flyktninghjelpen) is a humanitarian, non-governmental organisation that protects the rights of people affected by displacement. This includes refugees and internally displaced persons who are forced to flee their homes as a result of conflict, human rights violations and acute violence, as well as climate change and natural disasters.

Contents

History

NRC is politically independent and has no religious affiliation. It is the only Norwegian organisation that specialises in international efforts to provide assistance, protection and durable solutions for people affected by displacement. NRC employs approximately 16,500 staff members and incentive workers in 40 countries throughout Africa, Asia, South America, Europe and the Middle East. [1] The NRC headquarters is located in Oslo and has about 280 employees. Additionally the organisation has a presence in Brussels, Geneva, Washington, D.C., Berlin, London and Addis Ababa.

NRC was established in 1946 under the name "Europahjelpen" ("Aid to Europe"), to assist refugees in Europe after World War II. In 1953, the organisation changed to its current name, Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). Today NRC is organised as an independent, private foundation.

NRC's primary focus is the provision of humanitarian aid during the emergency stage of a conflict or natural disaster. It pursues a holistic, rights-based approach that includes emergency relief and early recovery while promoting resilience and sustainable solutions for displacement. [ citation needed ]

Jan Egeland took up the position as Secretary General in August 2013, replacing Elisabeth Rasmusson who was appointed to the position of Assistant Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP).

Core activities

Shelter and settlements: Emergency shelter, housing, schools and establishment of other forms of public infrastructure.

Livelihoods and food Security: Providing food assistance to prevent loss of life and to contribute to the rehabilitation of local food and market systems. Promoting livelihood strategies that protect, recover and strengthen individuals' and households' abilities to earn a living.

Information, counselling and legal assistance (ICLA): Enabling people affected by displacement to claim and exercise their rights and to find lasting solutions. Focus areas include housing, land and property rights, legal documentation, statelessness and refugee status procedures.

Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH): Providing access to, and promotion of, clean water and appropriate sanitation facilities.

Education: Education programmes targeted towards children and youth.

Protection from violence: Help to ensure displaced people and communities are protected, by preventing and responding to violence, coercion, and actions taken by others to deny them their rights.

Agencies

In 1998 NRC established the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre in Geneva. The IDMC contributes to improving national and international capacities to assist people around the globe who have been displaced. IDMC also develops statistics and analysis on internal displacement, including analysis commissioned for use by the United Nations.

NORCAP is a standby roster operated by NRC and funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs which consists of 650 men and women from Norway, Africa, Asia, Middle East and Latin America. Since its establishment in 1991, NORCAP's experts have been sent on more than 7000 missions worldwide.

Publications

Perspective [2] NRC previously published the magazine "Perspective" four times a year. The magazine focused on the humanitarian dimensions of international politics. The magazine was on sale in more than 15 countries.

Awards and recognition

The Nansen Refugee Award is an international award that is yearly given by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to a person or group for outstanding work on behalf of the forcibly displaced. Since 2009 NRC has been working with the UNCHR for organising and carrying out the ceremony. The award consists of a commemorative medal and a US$100,000 monetary prize donated by the governments of Norway and Switzerland.

In 2022, the Norwegian Refugee Council received the Hilton Humanitarian Prize from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, the world's largest annual humanitarian award, with a value of US$2.5 million. [3]

2012 kidnapping incident

In July 2012, two vehicles carrying a high-level Norwegian Refugee Council delegation were ambushed outside of a Dadaab camp. A driver was killed and four international staff were abducted, including Steve Dennis. According to the Norwegian Refugee Council spokesman a risk analysis had been carried out before movements through Dadaab and it was declared safe for travel. A Kenyan police commander said that a security escort had been arranged to accompany the delegation but the group declined. [4] In the aftermath of the kidnapping incident, Steve Dennis filed a lawsuit against the Norwegian Refugee Council, accusing it of gross negligence and failing to provide adequate support for the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and gunshot wounds he suffered during the ordeal. In 2015, the Oslo District Court ruled in favour of Dennis, finding the Norwegian Refugee Council guilty of gross negligence and breach of duty of care. The court recognised the physical and psychological injuries sustained by Dennis and awarded compensation for gross negligence, amounting to 4.4 million Norwegian kroner (approximately £350,000). [5]

Related Research Articles

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement to a third country. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, with over 18,879 staff working in 138 countries as of 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Refugee</span> Displaced person

A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a person who has lost the protection of their country of origin and who cannot or is unwilling to return there due to well-founded fear of persecution. Such a person may be called an asylum seeker until granted refugee status by a contracting state or by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) if they formally make a claim for asylum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Internally displaced person</span> Person forced to leave their home who remains within their country

An internally displaced person (IDP) is someone who is forced to leave their home but who remains within their country's borders. They are often referred to as refugees, although they do not fall within the legal definitions of a refugee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Refugee camp</span> Temporary settlement for refugees

A refugee camp is a temporary settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for internally displaced people. Usually, refugees seek asylum after they have escaped war in their home countries, but some camps also house environmental and economic migrants. Camps with over a hundred thousand people are common, but as of 2012, the average-sized camp housed around 11,400. They are usually built and run by a government, the United Nations, international organizations, or non-governmental organization. Unofficial refugee camps, such as Idomeni in Greece or the Calais jungle in France, are where refugees are largely left without the support of governments or international organizations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dadaab</span> Place in Garissa County, Kenya

Dadaab is a semi-arid town in Garissa County, Kenya. It is the site of a UNHCR base hosting 302,805 registered refugees and asylum seekers as of 31 October 2023, in four camps, making it one of the largest in the world behind Kutupalong refugee camp. The centre is run by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and its operations are financed by foreign donors. In 2013, UNHCR, the governments of Kenya and Somalia signed a tripartite agreement facilitating the repatriation of Somali refugees at the complex.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Humanitarian crisis</span> Large threat to the health and safety of many people

A humanitarian crisis is defined as a singular event or a series of events that are threatening in terms of health, safety or well-being of a community or large group of people. It may be an internal or external conflict and usually occurs throughout a large land area. Local, national and international responses are necessary in such events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jan Egeland</span> Norwegian diplomat and politician (born 1957)

Jan Egeland is a Norwegian diplomat, political scientist, humanitarian leader and former Labour Party politician who has been Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council since 2013. He served as State Secretary in the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1990 to 1997 and as United Nations Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator from 2003 to 2006.

Humanitarian assistance is aid and action designed to save lives, alleviate suffering, and maintain human dignity during and after man-made crises and disasters. It encompasses a wide range of activities, including providing food, water, shelter, medical care, and protection. Humanitarian assistance is grounded in the principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality, and independence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danish Refugee Council</span>

Danish Refugee Council (DRC) is a private Danish humanitarian nonprofit organization, founded in 1956. It serves as an umbrella organization for 33 member organizations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Medair</span> Natural disaster aid organization

Medair is an international non-governmental organisation (INGO) whose purpose is to relieve human suffering in some of the world's most remote and devastated places. Medair aims to assist people affected by natural disasters and conflict to recover with dignity through the delivery of quality humanitarian aid.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transitional shelter</span> Temporary form of housing

Transitional shelter is any of a range of shelter options that help people affected by conflict or natural disasters who have lost or abandoned their housing until they can return to or recover acceptable permanent accommodation. The term refers to an incremental process rather than a product, in which a shelter can be:

  1. upgraded into part of a permanent house;
  2. reused for another purpose;
  3. relocated from a temporary site to a permanent location;
  4. resold, to generate income to aid with recovery; and
  5. recycled for reconstruction.

The number of people who are currently displaced inside Iraq is estimated to be 3 million, almost one out of every ten Iraqis. This figure is cumulative and represents both those displaced before and after the 2003 US-led invasion. Displacement in Iraq is "chronic and complex:" since the 1960s Iraq has produced the largest population of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and refugees of any state in the Middle East.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kampala Convention</span> International agreement of the African Union adopted in 2009

The Kampala Convention is a treaty of the African Union (AU) that addresses internal displacement caused by armed conflict, natural disasters and large-scale development projects in Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2011 East Africa drought</span> Natural disaster

Occurring between July 2011 and mid-2012, a severe drought affected the entire East African region. Said to be "the worst in 60 years", the drought caused a severe food crisis across Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya that threatened the livelihood of 9.5 million people. Many refugees from southern Somalia fled to neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia, where crowded, unsanitary conditions together with severe malnutrition led to a large number of deaths. Other countries in East Africa, including Sudan, South Sudan and parts of Uganda, were also affected by a food crisis.

Butterflies with New Wings Building a Future is a non-profit organization from Buenaventura, Colombia. The organization is a self-help group of forcibly displaced, local women. The organization was established in 2010. It consists of nine women's rights groups. During 2014 the group was led by Mery Medina, Gloria Amparo and Maritza Asprilla.

United Nations General Assembly Resolution 48/144 of 20 December 1993 is a resolution in which the General Assembly expressed its concern at the ongoing degradation of the humanitarian situation in Azerbaijan because of the displacement of considerable number of citizens due to Nagorno Karabakh conflict and supporting "emergency international assistance to refugees and displaced persons in Azerbaijan". The resolution is titled “48/114. Emergency international assistance to refugees and displaced persons in Azerbaijan”. It became the fifth United Nations document concerning Nagorno-Karabakh and the first United Nations General Assembly document on humanitarian aid to those affected by this conflict. This resolution was the first international document affirming the number of refugees and displaced persons in Azerbaijan exceeded one million. The document does not make any specific reference to previous UN resolutions on the ongoing conflict, but "its relevant resolutions regarding humanitarian assistance to refugees and displaced persons". The resolution was adopted by consensus without voting.

Steven Patrick Dennis, known as Steve Dennis, is a Canadian humanitarian worker who in 2012 was violently abducted from Dadaab refugee camp, Kenya, before being rescued in a gunfight by an armed militia. Dennis' litigation against his employer was the first time that a European court has ruled on the duty of care of aid workers.

Humanitarian protection is the act of promoting and ensuring the legal rights of people affected by humanitarian crises.

Ameen Hussain Jubran is a Yemeni chemist and the founder of Jeel Albena Association for Humanitarian Development. In 2021, he accepted a Nansen Refugee Award on behalf of the organisation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colombian displacement crisis</span>

Colombia currently has one of the highest populations of internally displaced people (IDPS), at a total amount of over 6.8 million. The majority of IDPS have been displaced due to conflict and violence while others have been displaced due to climate change. Primary contributors to violence include political violence and civil war as well as gang violence. Despite a 2016 peace agreement, political dissident groups have persisted in Colombia, contributing to violence rate similar to those prior to the peace agreement. The Venezuelan refugee crisis has contributed to economic strains and aid requirements in Colombia. Colombia has received aid from organizations like the UNHCR or USAID to help manage humanitarian needs.

References

  1. "Where we work". NRC. Retrieved 2024-03-12.
  2. "Support people forced to flee". www.nrc.no. Retrieved May 30, 2023.
  3. "2022 Hilton Humanitarian Symposium and Prize Ceremony Honoring Norwegian Refugee Council". Hilton Foundation. Retrieved 2023-10-17.
  4. Associated Press: Kenya Pursues Somali Kidnappers From Refugee Camp New York Times , 30 June 2012
  5. Young, Holly (2015-12-05). "Steve Dennis and the court case that sent waves through the aid industry". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2024-03-12.

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