Erik Solheim

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From the spring of 2000 he was granted a leave of absence from parliament to serve as special advisor to the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Sri Lanka. He went on to become one of the most recognizable figures in the peace negotiations between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers.

Solheim helped negotiate a truce in 2002. [9] On 17 October 2005, he continued his engagement with international affairs when he was appointed Minister of International Development in the cabinet of Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg. In this position, he was able to continue his work on the Sri Lanka issue.

Post 2006 activities

Solheim met with the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister and U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns on 23 January 2006.

After meeting with the officials, Solheim told journalists in Colombo, "Everyone is worried with the present deteriorating security situation. It is hard to see the present situation continuing indefinitely. Sri Lanka is at a crossroads."

After meeting with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse, Undersecretary Burns expressed hope that "the LTTE understands that it will have no relations with my country, and for that matter any effective relations with any country in the world, on the barrel of the gun." [9]

President Rajapakse and Solheim met the day after. Solheim then went north and met with Tamil Tiger rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran and rebel negotiator Anton Balasingham. [9] Dumeetha Luthra of BBC News said Solheim's visit was seen as crucial to saving the truce. [9]

2006 peace talks

Solheim announced on 12 September 2006 that the Government of Sri Lanka and the Tamil Tigers had agreed to hold "unconditional peace talks" in October in Oslo. [10]

Solheim told BBC News officials that "Both parties have expressed willingness to come back to the table. We expect the violence will be stopped. The government has throughout its existence for 10 months repeatedly told us that they are ready for talks without any preconditions and the LTTE has today confirmed that they are ready for talks without any preconditions."

Government reaction

Keheliya Rambukwella, a spokesman for the Sri Lankan government, acknowledged that the government was ready for talks, "but we did not agree on Oslo for unconditional peace talks." Officials from the European Union, Japan, Norway and the United States, meeting in Brussels to discuss the conflict, released a statement in support of the peace talks. [11]

Government spokesman Rambukwella denied that the government agreed to unconditional negotiations, saying, "We will put forward our conditions." Rambukwella criticized the Norwegian government for announcing the talks without consulting the Sri Lankan government: "The government has not been consulted on any future discussions. Norway, or anybody, can't announce dates and venues. We will take it up very seriously. We are a sovereign state. They are only facilitators. We have not delegated any of our powers to them." [12]

The Sri Lankan Government's chief negotiator, Nimal Siripala De Silva, filed an official complaint about Solheim's announcement to the press to Norwegian Ambassador Hans Brattskar when they met, along with Sri Lankan Foreign Secretary S. Palihakkara and Norwegian Embassy spokesman Eric Nurnberg, at the Norwegian Foreign Ministry. Minister De Silva said he hoped to discuss the "future role of the international community in the Sri Lankan Peace Process and the future course of action on the peace front" at this meeting. [13] He also expressed a desire for a "sincere commitment to the process from the LTTE leader Prabakaran" to reporters. [14]

Aftermath

His attempts of peacemaking were in the end unsuccessful, with the Asian Tribune concluding that "his handling relationship with Sri Lanka" was an "utter failure". In 2010, Minister of Foreign Affairs Jonas Gahr Støre thus instead took control over the bilateral relations between Sri Lanka and Norway, with Eva Kristin Hansen stating that "Norway will ensure that Norway-Sri Lanka relations are brought back to the way they were." [15] In January 2011 Erik Solheim offered to play the role of a "dialogue partner" between the Sri Lankan government and communities living in exile, possibly a reference to the Tamil Diaspora or the LTTE supporters who have formed a government in exile. [16]

In an interview with journalists Easwaran Rutnam and Jamila Najmuddin, the Norwegian Minister of Environment, who has been often labelled in Sri Lanka as being pro-LTTE, said that the recent Wikileaks reports on him proved that he was not biased towards one party. Solheim also rejected the idea of a separate State in Sri Lanka and urged the Tamil Diaspora to seek dialogue and work through democratic means to achieve their goals. The LTTE had recently created a government in exile, also known as the Transnational government of Tamil Ealam which demands for a separate State and obtained the support of some of the Tamil Diaspora especially those living in Canada.

Controversies

Sri Lanka exchange of gifts

In an interview with Sri Lanka's Daily News , Colonel Karuna, a former LTTE regional commander and a current member of the Sri Lankan parliament, levelled claims of Norwegian support for the LTTE and the existence of an exchange of goods, including gifts such as TVs and large sums of money existed between Solheim and LTTE leadership. [17] [18] [19] Solheim has denied the allegations made against him and has complained that these accusations are the fabrications of the media. [18] The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that they are surprised about the "obvious lies about Mr. Solheim". [20] also stating that there is "no basis in reality" for the accusations. In an open letter to the editor of the Sunday Times newspaper, in reply to an article published on 15 April 2007, the Norwegian Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Hans Brattskar, also "categorically refuted allegations made by a Norwegian national, who happened to be a convicted murderer and his organization Norwegians Against Terrorism, to the effect that Norway has funded terrorism." also stating that "Unfortunately, similar allegations based on the very same source, have lately also been published and broadcast by other parts of the Sri Lankan media." [21] "Norwegians Against Terrorism" is a one-man band led by convicted murderer Falk Rune Rovik. [22] [23] Rovik also posted a video of LTTE leadership visiting the Norwegian Special Forces Training Camp in Rena, which showed the LTTE receiving instruction on their weapons, tactics and military strategies. [24] The content or authenticity of this video was never refuted by Solheim or the Norwegian government.

In May 2011, Aftenposten stated that Norwegian Embassy personnel in Colombo had secretly helped LTTE personnel to leave Sri Lanka. This practice was defended by Erik Solheim, who stated that Norway had a long tradition of helping people at risk. [25]

Commercial and Chinese promotion

Before being asked to resign as head of UNEP, Solheim was criticized for his promotion of a vast and environmentally controversial Chinese infrastructure project, the Belt and Road Initiative, as well as Chinese investments in Africa. Solheim defended himself against accusations of nepotism and conflict of interest. [26] Deutsche Welle editorialized that "his actions paint a questionable picture of a corrupt politician using a position of privilege to his own advantage." [27]

Work in intergovernmental organisations

OECD

In January 2013, Erik Solheim was appointed head of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's Development Assistance Committee (DAC). [28] He took over from Brian Atwood who stepped down in December 2012. The DAC is an international forum for bilateral providers of development co-operation. It aims to promote development co-operation in order to contribute to sustainable development. Solheim focussed on reform of official development assistance, providing more support to the least developed countries. He has also sought to blend development assistance with private investment and better taxation systems in recipient countries. [29]

UNEP

In May 2016, Solheim was appointed Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme. [30] He succeeded Achim Steiner in that post in June 2016.

A 2018 internal audit by the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) questioned Solheim's ability to lead the UNEP, particularly in light of his "extensive travel patterns" and general management style. [31] [32] As a consequence, the governments of Denmark, Sweden, Japan, Belgium and the Netherlands halted their funding to UNEP, leaving the organisation facing a major funding crisis. [33] On 20 November 2018, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres accepted Solheim's resignation, after asking him to step down. [34]

Other activities

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References

  1. ↑ "Erik Solheim får toppjobb i FN | ABC Nyheter". 2 May 2016. Retrieved 27 June 2017.
  2. ↑ Carrington, Damian (20 November 2018). "UN environment chief resigns after frequent flying revelations". the Guardian. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  3. 1 2 "Solheim vil ikke svare på om han har forlatt SV".
  4. ↑ "Erik Solheim snakker ikke lenger med SV – Oslo".
  5. ↑ Erik Solheim: – Norge trenger et grønt folkeparti
  6. ↑ Blom, Marianne Granheim Trøyflat, Ketil. "Uforlikt med AKP".
  7. 1 2 "Solheim, Erik (1955– )" (in Norwegian). Parliament of Norway. 9 March 2008. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
  8. ↑ "- Solheim ut av regjeringen". Adresseavisen (in Norwegian). Norwegian News Agency. 21 March 2012. Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Envoy issues Sri Lanka peace call BBC News
  10. ↑ Sri Lanka, Tamil Tigers agree to hold peace talks Todayonline [ dead link ]
  11. ↑ Sri Lankan foes 'to talk peace' BBC News
  12. ↑ Sri Lanka denies 'unconditional' talks with Tigers TamilNet
  13. ↑ Co-Chairs announcement: Government complains Archived 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine Daily News
  14. ↑ Sri Lankan gov't calls for sincere rebel commitment for peace People's Daily Online
  15. ↑ "Norway-Sri Lanka relations normalized: Erik Solheim sidelined – Asian Tribune".
  16. ↑ Archived 29 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  17. ↑ "Solheim in the pay of Tigers: his house in Norway bought with Tiger money – Col. Karuna – Asian Tribune". www.asiantribune.com.
  18. 1 2 "Solheim calls Karuna allegations 'complete lies'". 28 September 2007. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007.
  19. ↑ "Col Karuna hits back with more details on Erik Solheim’s dealings with Prabhakaran and Anton Balasingham – Asian Tribune". www.asiantribune.com.
  20. ↑ Archived 14 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  21. ↑ Archived 18 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  22. ↑ Norway dismisses allegations, BBCSinhala.com 18 April 2007
  23. ↑ Ex-convict causing trouble, Aftenposten 19 April 2007 Archived 11 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  24. ↑ "LankaWeb – Eric Solheim says he called the Tamil Tigers to surrender. What!".
  25. ↑ "Norway secretly helped LTTE cadres".
  26. ↑ Damian Carrington (27 September 2018). "Under-fire UN environment chief forced back to HQ". The Guardian . Retrieved 5 December 2018. "In relation to any notion of nepotism, I wish to clarify that my spouse was recruited to REV Ocean through an open, transparent and competitive process," said Solheim
  27. ↑ Sonya Angelica Diehn (21 November 2018). "Opinion: Beyond Erik Solheim's climate hypocrisy". Deutsche Welle . Retrieved 5 December 2018. Solheim was also criticized for promoting a massive Chinese infrastructure project despite environmental concerns, and for sponsoring a Volvo race without disclosing it [...] But in sum, his actions paint a questionable picture of a corrupt politician using a position of privilege to his own advantage.
  28. ↑ AS, TV 2. "Erik Solheim får toppjobb i Paris".
  29. ↑ "DAC Chair: Erik Solheim". OECD. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  30. ↑ "Secretary-General Announces Intention to Appoint Erik Solheim of Norway as Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme". UNEP news centre. UNEP. 3 May 2016. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  31. ↑ Carrington, Damian (21 September 2018). "UN environment chief criticised by UN over frequent flying". the Guardian. Retrieved 21 September 2018.
  32. ↑ Damian Carrington (27 September 2018), Under-fire UN environment chief forced back to HQ The Guardian .
  33. ↑ Damian Carrington (25 September 2018), Nations halt funding to UN environment programme as outcry over chief grows The Guardian .
  34. ↑ Michelle Nichols (20 November 2018), U.N. environment chief quits over travel expense report [ dead link ]  Reuters .
  35. ↑ UN Environment Leader Erik Solheim Joins the EAT Advisory Board EAT Foundation (EAT), press release of 19 May 2017.
  36. ↑ Policy Advisory Board Reconsidering European Contributions to Global Justice (GLOBUS).
  37. ↑ Advisory Board The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB).
  38. ↑ Sustainability and Legacy Commission International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Erik Solheim
Erik Solheim juni 09 A.jpg
Solheim in 2009
Executive Director of United Nations Environment Programme-UNEP
In office
June 2016 –November 2018
Political offices
Preceded by Norwegian Minister of International Development
2005–2012		Succeeded by
Preceded by Norwegian Minister of the Environment
2007–2012		Succeeded by
Party political offices
Preceded by Party Secretary of the Socialist Left Party
1981–1985		Succeeded by
Preceded by Party Leader of the Socialist Left Party
1987–1997		Succeeded by
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