Terje Rød-Larsen

Template:Short description Template:Pp-blp Template:Infobox officeholder Terje Rød-Larsen (born 22 November 1947) is a Norwegian diplomat, politician, and sociologist.

Rød-Larsen came to wide international prominence as a key figure in the 1990s negotiations that led to the Oslo Accords—the first-ever agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)—when he served as the director of the Fafo institute.<ref name="nytimes_review">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="oslo_play_review_chcago_tribune">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="charlie_rose_2017_05_05_pbs_org">Rose, Charlie (interviewer), with interviewees diplomat Terje Rød-Larsen, playwright J. T. Rogers, and director Bartlett Sher, with other segments, in Charlie Rose: The Week, May 5, 2017, (Video) as aired May 6, 2017, Public Broadcasting System (PBS), retrieved May 6, 2017</ref><ref name="jt_rogers_2016_y06_17_nytimes">Rogers, J.T. (playwright), Theater: "'Oslo' and the Drama in Diplomacy", June 17, 2016, The New York Times retrieved May 6, 2017</ref> He is played by the actor Andrew Scott in the film Oslo, based on the play of the same name.

In 1993, Rød-Larsen was appointed Ambassador and Special Adviser for the Middle East Peace process to the Norwegian Foreign Minister, and the following year, he became the United Nations Special Coordinator in the Occupied Territories at the rank of Under-Secretary-General.

Rød-Larsen briefly served as the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Planning and Cooperation of Norway in the Jagland cabinet in 1996. He had to resign after a tax affair regarding him came to public attention.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Rød-Larsen then returned to the United Nations, where he again became an Under-Secretary-General, serving as the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and Personal Representative of the Secretary-General to the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority from 1999 to 2004.

From 2004 to 2020,<ref name="dn.no">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Rød-Larsen has been the president of the International Peace Institute (IPI), based in New York City, adjacent to the United Nations, which the IPI works with extensively. He resigned in 2020 over previously undisclosed links to Jeffrey Epstein.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Early life and education

Rød-Larsen grew up in Bergen and studied social sciences, culminating in a Ph.D. in sociology. He taught at Norwegian universities until 1981, when he helped found FAFO, a research organization funded by the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions.

Career

Fafo Institute

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} In 1982, Rød-Larsen founded the Fafo Institute for Applied Social Science in Oslo. Initially funded by the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions, Fafo later received support from major companies including Orkla, UMOE, Elkem, Coop Norge, Sparebank 1, and Telenor.<ref name="fafo"/>

As Fafo's director (1982–1993), he expanded the institute from a national research body into an internationally recognized think tank. Its field research on living conditions and labor issues in the Middle East contributed to the framework for the secret Oslo negotiations.<ref name="fafo"/><ref name="britannica"/>

Early Middle East work

In 1989, Rød-Larsen moved to Cairo, when his wife Mona Juul, who worked for the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was stationed there. He continued to work for FAFO, as the organization had become more internationally oriented during the 1980s. Rød-Larsen performed a detailed sociological study of living conditions in the West Bank, Gaza and Eastern Jerusalem. In the course of this work, Rød-Larsen made contacts that proved to be useful in secret negotiations between Israel and the PLO.

Oslo Accords

When serving as the director of the Fafo institute in the early 1990s, Rød-Larsen became a key figure in the 1990s negotiations that led to the Oslo Accords—the first-ever agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). He served a pivotal role in the negotiations not only overtly, but in secret back-channel maneuvers and communications—largely arranged and facilitated by him and his wife, Norwegian diplomat Mona Juul. She was able to facilitate high-level contacts with the Norwegian foreign minister, Johan Jørgen Holst, who was instrumental in reaching the Oslo Accords—leading to the peace agreement signing on September 13, 1993 in Washington D.C.<ref name="nytimes_review"/><ref name="oslo_play_review_chcago_tribune"/><ref name="charlie_rose_2017_05_05_pbs_org"/><ref name="jt_rogers_2016_y06_17_nytimes"/>

The 2016-2017 Broadway play, Oslo, by noted playwright J. T. Rogers, is a widely-praised dramatization of the previously unheralded secret work of Rød-Larsen and his wife, and others, in developing the back-channel communications that (reportedly) saved the Oslo negotiations from collapsing.<ref name="nytimes_review" /><ref name="oslo_play_review_chcago_tribune" /><ref name="charlie_rose_2017_05_05_pbs_org" /><ref name="jt_rogers_2016_y06_17_nytimes" />

The same year Rød-Larsen became formally employed by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a special advisor on Middle Eastern affairs.

Mid-1990s to mid-2000s

From 1994 to 1996, Rød-Larsen served as former Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali's first "Special Coordinator in the Occupied Territories."

In 1996, Rød-Larsen served briefly as minister of administration in the government of Thorbjørn Jagland, before being forced to resign as the result of a tax scandal.

In 9/9/1999, Rød-Larsen was appointed as UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's personal representative to the PLO and Palestinian Authority on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. He was also the UN Special Coordinator for peace negotiations in the Middle East.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref> He subsequently left the post in 2004 to become President of the International Peace Academy, a NYC-based think tank, and was also designated as UN Special Representative (Date of Appointment : 3/1/2005) for the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1559, which calls for Syrian withdrawal of Lebanon and the disarmament of Hezbollah.

International Peace Institute

In 2005, Rød-Larsen became President of the International Peace Institute (formerly International Peace Academy). Under his leadership, IPI expanded its headquarters, opened offices in Europe and the Middle East, and became a forum for UN-related dialogue.<ref name="ipi">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In October 2020, Rød-Larsen resigned after media revelations that IPI had accepted donations from entities connected to Jeffrey Epstein. The contributions represented less than 1% of IPI’s budget.<ref name="dn">Template:Cite news</ref> An internal KPMG review found all donations were properly recorded and concluded that there was “no evidence that any laws or regulations were breached.”<ref name="ipi-kpmg">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Rød-Larsen also disclosed that he had received and repaid a personal loan from Epstein.

2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict

16 August

Rød-Larsen was sent by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to Lebanon and Israel to follow up on the implementation of the cease-fire resolution, the United Nations announced on 16 August 2006.<ref name=CNN-08-17>Template:Cite news</ref>

20 August

On this date Rød-Larsen told reporters. "There is a golden opportunity for Lebanon to solidify its democracy, to assert it authority, to produce a situation where Lebanon can be reconstructed and where Lebanese can live peacefully with its neighbors in prosperity. All this is at hand."<ref name=CNN-08-20>Template:Cite news</ref>

22 August

The United Nations special envoy to Syria and Lebanon said on 22 August 2006 it could take the Lebanese army and international troops two to three months to fill a "security vacuum" in southern Lebanon and warned that "unintended" acts could spark renewed fighting.<ref name=Haaretz-08-22>Template:Cite news</ref>

"There is now a security vacuum which the Lebanese government is trying to fill" with the help of international forces, said Terje Rød-Larsen. "But I think realistically, up to a point, you will have such a vacuum in Lebanon for the next two, three months," he added. "The situation is still extremely fragile... Unintended incidents can kick off renewed violence, which might escalate and spin out of control."<ref name=Haaretz-08-22 />

Abraham Accords

In 2020, Rød-Larsen was involved in informal diplomatic contacts that contributed to the groundwork for the Abraham Accords between Israel and several Arab states. He attended the White House signing ceremony in September 2020.<ref name="whitehouse">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="jewishinsider">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Reception

Rød-Larsen's work is associated with the practice of "track-two diplomacy," using informal channels to mediate conflicts. Although the Oslo process stalled in later years, scholars credit his methods as influential for subsequent peace initiatives.<ref name="britannica">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> His reputation was affected by the Epstein donations controversy, though internal and external reviews cleared him of legal wrongdoing.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On 29 October 2020, Rød-Larsen resigned the presidency of the IPI.<ref name="dn.no"/>

Awards and honors

Rød-Larsen has received numerous international awards for his peace work, including:

• Commander of the Légion d’Honneur (France, 2017)<ref name="legion">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Commander of the National Order of the Cedar (Lebanon)<ref name="lebanon">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Order of Merit (Palestinian Authority)<ref name="un">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Peer Gynt Prize (Norway, 1994, jointly with Mona Juul)<ref name="peer">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Shimon Peres Peace Prize (Israel)<ref name="histadrut">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Histadrut Peace Prize (Israel)<ref name="histadrut"/>
• Tipperary Peace Prize (Ireland)<ref name="un"/>
• Kessler International Peace Prize (Germany)<ref name="un"/>
• Carter-Menil Human Rights Prize (USA)<ref name="carter">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Personal life

Rød-Larsen is married to diplomat Mona Juul, with whom he facilitated the Oslo negotiations. They have two children.<ref name="fafo">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

External links

• Template:Commons-inline
• Innlegg: Fredsmeglingens fallgruver [Received articles: The pitfalls of peace-brokering]. 7 May 2021. Dagens Næringsliv
• Rød-Larsen's wife, Mona Juul's house bugged, Nettavisen, 20 January 2004.
• Rød-Larsen at the UN, 13 July 2004.
• Rød-Larsen overseeing Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon, 17 March 2005.
• Foreign ministry to investigate money to Rød-Larsen, 24 April 2002
• Rød-Larsen wanted to become United Nations-chief (Rød-Larsen ville bli FN-sjef)