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International International

“My passion is human rights for all” approval of their behavior. I have tried to raise
awareness about such crimes ever since.

Interview with You have worked in UNHCR. Could you talk
to us about your work there?
Gry Tinde My master’s thesis in anthropology was a series
of interviews in person with Cambodian women
Country Representative in Niger (Africa) Red Cross and Red Crescent who had returned home to their town by the

Societies’ activities Mekong River after about 15 years in refugee
camps in Thailand. Civil war and occupation
made their own country dangerous and
inhospitable. They brought both hope and skills
Gry has represented Norway in many You have a motto, “My passion is human with them home. The town, Kratie, was where I
different places around the world, going rights for all.” Where does your commitment was stationed with UNTAC. Together we set up a
from Geneva, to Washington, from Oslo to come from? livelihoods organisation so that they could share
Niamey. We managed to get hold of her in As a teenager I was fascinated by foreign knowledge and resources among themselves
Geneva, before she would be back in Africa, languages and literature and read a lot of and with villagers who had survived the Khmer
to Niger, which is classified as one of poorest novels with justice and gender equality themes. Rouge brutality and Vietnamese occupation.
country in the world. Gry is currently the Reading Günther Wallraff’s “Lowest of the Nothing could have made me happier than
Red Cross and Red Crescent’s country Low” during my studies of German literature joining UNHCR and promoting refugee rights,
representative, and we were curious to learn convinced me to become a journalist and try and especially women’s and children’s issues. I
a little bit more about this extraordinary and to expose human rights violations similar to was spokesperson for UNHCR in Belgrade and
positive woman. So the floor is yours Gry… those he discovered by bravely pretending later headed the voluntary repatriation unit.
to be an immigrant worker in Germany. If I This brought me to every corner of the former
Could you tell us a little about yourself? had not passed the national competitive exam Yugoslavia, where people were trying to eke out
Thank you so much for inviting me to speak for a job in the UN’s Department of Public a living in the ruins of war and ongoing power
with DIVA. I’ve loved your magazine since it Information, I would probably have worked abuse and risks. Later, as Special Advisor on
started and am impressed with the quality and as a journalist. Gender Issues to António Guterres, who was High
outreach. My journalist father and accountant Commissioner for Refugees then, my job was
mother raised my younger brother and me You have had a rich and varied career. Could to advance protection from sexual exploitation
near the Oslo Fjord. We skied to school in you tell us a little about your beginnings? and abuse of persons affected by emergencies. I
winter and swam on the coast during summers. In the UN I was lucky to learn from feminist and also worked with human resources to find ways
I took on a newspaper route after school at age justice activists such as Bela Abzug, Catherine to attract, advance and retain more women,
12 as my dad said that everyone should work O’Neill and many others through my job in the especially from the countries where UNHCR
hard and start young, and besides I needed NGO Section. Seeing Nelson Mandela enter the had operations.
the money. I enjoyed biking around putting UN Secretariat Building in 1990 brought tears to
papers into mailboxes and checking out boys my eyes. In 1992 I joined the UN Transitional This was and remains an uphill battle. There
along the way. My education was in foreign Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) as an electoral is little accountability to implement, and
languages, political science, journalism, and worker and learned much about Cambodian fund adopted gender equality policies. Due
anthropology, in Norway, Germany, the US and history and culture. I tend to grow attached to to this, women and children experiencing
Belgium. When I was 20, I spent six formative each country I live in. The realities of proxy Cold disaster, conflict and displacement suffer
months in Southwestern France as an au-pair War battles and how the civilians and especially from preventable abuse and discrimination.
and understood that other countries have women, children and other discriminated However, I speak nearly weekly with women
figured out a lot of things that I needed to learn groups suffer during conflict became very clear. from various organisations who see no other causes major problems for humanity. All sides,
about. The stay cured me of homesickness and I met a 15-year-old girl in a countryside clinic solution than leaving their job due to sexual including foreign countries supporting peace
put me on a global nomadic path that I have the day after she had stepped on a landmine harassment or bullying, after their employer processes, could have done much more over
no intention of abandoning. I have lived in and lost a leg. The look of despair in her eyes sidelines them and refuses to protect them. several decades to ensure gender balance in
nine countries, visited about 60 and am now reflected the extremely challenging life ahead conflict resolution. But men, who have a majority
head a.i. of the country office in Niger of the of her. Throughout my year in Cambodia, I Gender and gender balance are something of senior roles, have usually decided to exclude
International Federation of Red Cross and Red was appalled by many of my male colleagues’ dear to your heart. Why is it so important to women. How they get away with it I don’t know.
Crescent Societies. West Africa, its people and sexual exploitation and abuse of local women you to fight for equal rights? Nearly every group photo of peace negotiations
culture are my current crush. and children and the head of mission’s public The lack of women in peace negotiations in Yemen, Syria, Afghanistan, Ukraine and other

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