Secretary General
| Bjarte Vandvik joined ECRE as Secretary General in October 2006. Having just completed a period of significant and wide-ranging policy development, firmly rooted in the experiences of our refugee assisting member agencies, he is leading ECRE through an exciting new phase, bringing a stronger focus to advocacy and public awareness-raising in the work of the organisation, vitalising and strengthening the commitment of its membership, and implementing an extensive process of internal review. These changes will seek to promote greater public understanding of refugee issues and asylum as a human right and combat the climate of hostility towards asylum seekers and refugees where this exists in Europe. Bjarte Vandvik's involvement with ECRE goes back many years. He has participated in both the ECRE legal and advocacy networks and served on the ECRE Executive Committee. Before joining ECRE, he had been with the Norwegian Refugee Council since 2002 as Director for its International Department and most recently as Resident Representative for its Europe office in Brussels. Prior to joining NRC, Mr. Vandvik was senior diplomat responsible for Norwegian interests in the field of Justice and Home Affairs for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Norwegian delegation to the European Union in Brussels. Previous to this, he was Secretary General of Norwegian Organisation for Asylum Seekers. Bjarte Vandvik is a Norwegian national and holds degrees in social and political sciences from Oslo University.
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Comments and speeches
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