Terje Rød-Larsen

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Terje Rød-Larsen (born November 22, 1947) is a Norwegian diplomat and sociologist.

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 Conferation of Trade Unions.

Through Fafo's ties with Socialist International, Rød-Larsen was approached to act as an intermediary in the secret negotiations between Israel and the PLO. His connection with the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs through his wife Mona Juul facilitated high-level contacts with the Norwegian foreign minister, Johan Jørgen Holst, who was instrumental in reaching the Oslo Accords in 1993.

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

In 1996, he 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 1999, he was appointed as UN Secretry-General Kofi Annan's personal representative to the PLO and Palestine Authority on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. He is also the UN Special Coordinator for peace negotiations in the Middle East. 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 for the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1559, which calls for Syrian withdrawal of Lebanon and the disarment of Hezbollah.