The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC, no, Flyktninghjelpen) is a humanitarian, non-governmental organisation that protects the rights of people affected by displacement. This includes refugees and

internally displaced persons 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. A ...

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.

History

NRC is politically independent and has no

religious Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatur ...

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 32 countries throughout

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sou ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

. The NRC headquarters is located in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

and has about 280 employees. Additionally the organisation has a presence in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situa ...

, Washington, D.C.,

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; am, አዲስ አበባ, , new flower ; also known as , lit. "natural spring" in Oromo), is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. It is also served as major administrative center of the Oromia Region. In the 2007 census, t ...

. NRC was established in 1946 under the name "Europahjelpen" ("Aid to Europe"), to assist refugees in

after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. 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 Humanitarian aid is material and logistic assistance to people who need help. It is usually short-term help until the long-term help by the government and other institutions replaces it. Among the people in need are the homeless, refugees, and v ...

during the emergency stage of a conflict or

natural disaster A natural disaster is "the negative impact following an actual occurrence of natural hazard in the event that it significantly harms a community". A natural disaster can cause loss of life or damage property, and typically leaves some econ ...

. It pursues a holistic, rights-based approach that includes emergency relief and early recovery while promoting resilience and sustainable solutions for displacement.

Jan Egeland Jan Egeland (born 12 September 1957) 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 ...

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'': Emergency shelter, housing, schools and establishment of other forms of public infrastructure. ''Food Security'': Distribution of food and non-food relief items. ''Information, counselling and legal assistance (ICLA)'': Focus areas include housing, land and property rights, legal documentation, statelessness and refugee status procedures. ''Water, sanitation and hygiene'': Access to safe drinking water, sanitation and waste management facilities. ''Education'': Education programs targeted children and youth. ''Camp management'': Coordination of services in refugee camps and IDP camps.

Agencies

In 1998 NRC established the

Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre or IDMC is an International non-governmental organization established in 1998 by the Norwegian Refugee Council in Geneva. It is focused on monitoring and providing information and analysis on the world ...

. 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 The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs ( Norwegian (Bokmål): ''Det kongelige utenriksdepartement''; Norwegian (Nynorsk): ''Det kongelege utanriksdepartement'') is the foreign ministry of the Kingdom of Norway. It was established on Ju ...

which consists of 650 men and women from

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

and

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived ...

. Since its establishment in 1991, NORCAP's experts have been sent on more than 7000 missions worldwide.

Publications

Perspective
NRC previously published the magazine "Perspective" four times a year. The magazine focused on the humanitarian dimensions of international politics. The magazine was in 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 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 integrat ...

) 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

and

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

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. 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.

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. new ...

Kenya Pursues Somali Kidnappers From Refugee Camp

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

, 30 June 2012

References

External links

Official website (English version)Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC)NORCAPThe Nansen Refugee Award
{{Authority control Development charities based in Norway Foundations based in Norway Human rights organisations based in Norway Organisations based in Oslo Organizations established in 1946 Refugee aid organizations in Europe 1946 establishments in Norway