Dag Nylander appointed new director of NOREF
The Board of NOREF has appointed Dag Nylander as the Centre’s new director. Nylander is one of Norway’s most experienced peace mediators, with more than 20 years of diplomatic service behind him, mainly in the area of peace and reconciliation.
“The Board is proud to present Dag Nylander as the new director of NOREF. Dag is highly respected both in Norway and internationally for his decades of work in peace and reconciliation. The Board unanimously agreed that Dag is the right person to lead NOREF and create results together with a competent and engaged NOREF staff”, says Bård Glad Pedersen, chair of the Board of NOREF.
Nylander comes from the position as director and head of the Section for Peace and Reconciliation in the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). In his diplomatic career he has held the prominent role of mediator and Norwegian special envoy to Colombia. From 2010 to 2016 he led the Norwegian facilitation of the peace process between the Colombian government and the FARC. This work built on the foundations laid from 2006 to 2008, when he headed the Norwegian embassy in Bogotá. In 2017 he was appointed the United Nations Secretary-General’s personal representative on the border controversy between Venezuela and Guyana, and from 2018 he has been director and head of the Section for Peace and Reconciliation in the MFA. He is a jurist by education and has practised both as a lawyer and an assistant judge.
“It is with great pleasure that I have accepted the offer to lead NOREF for the next four years. NOREF is among the leading mediation and mediation support organisations internationally, and I look forward to contributing to its continued development, together with the Board and the Centre’s committed and highly competent team”, says Nylander.
Nylander replaces Henrik Thune, who has decided to step down as director in November this year.
“The Board would like to thank Henrik Thune for his impressive work as director of NOREF. He has been crucial to the Centre's development as an operative peace mediation actor and has laid a very strong foundation for the further development of NOREF. In doing so, Thune has played a significant role in the implementation of Norwegian peace and reconciliation policy”, says Glad Pedersen.
The NOREF director position is a four-year appointment. Nylander will be on leave from his position in the MFA, he will assume his new position at NOREF on 2 November 2020.
Link to Norwegian press release .
