Featuring Jan Egeland, former U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs & Emergency Relief Coordinator
As one of the closet advisors to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Jan Egeland was at the center of coordinating the United Nation’s response and massive international relief efforts during one of the more challenging periods in its recent history. He traveled extensively to the front lines of conflict zones and regions ravaged by natural disasters, consistently acting as an aggressive international spokesman for civilians caught in the crossfire of strife, victims of catastrophes, and displaced people. Sometimes controversial, he has made a point of eschewing diplomatic niceties and using direct language to get his points across to national governments and heads of state. Jan Egeland joins the Council to discuss his new book, A Billion Lives, where he offers a very personal and up-front account about his travels to the most desperate and violent places in the world to negotiate relief efforts and cease fires, as well as to deal with the perpetrators and their victims.
