Gro Harlem Brundtland

(b. Baerum, 20 Apr. 1939) Norwegian; Prime Minister 1981, 1986 – 9, 1990 – ; Director-General of WHO 1998 – 2003 The daughter of a professor of medicine, Brundtland went to school and university in Oslo, graduating in medicine in 1963 before going to Harvard to take a master's degree in public health in 1965. She then returned to Oslo to practise as a doctor and from 1968 to 1974 was chief physician to the city's Health Administration. Her interest in politics began early. She became vice-chair of the Socialist Schools Association in 1955 – 7 and held the same office in the Labour Party's Student Association 1958 – 60. In 1973 – 5 she had a spell of service on an Oslo district council.

Brundtland was appointed Minister of the Environment in the Labour government of 1974 and remained in that post through the next Labour administration continuously until 1979. In 1977 she was elected to parliament as one of the members for Oslo. From 1979 to 1981 she was vice-chair of her party's parliamentary group before being elected its leader 1981 – 6 and again 1989 – 90. In 1981 she became Norway's first female Prime Minister for the first of her three terms to date.

Brundtland's declared support for Norwegian membership of the EC was rebuffed in the referendum of November 1994 but it has not weakened her position in the country's domestic politics, despite the fact that none of her governments has enjoyed a parliamentary majority. Internationally she became well known when she chaired the United Nations Commission on Environment and Development 1984 – 6 — the "Brundtland Commission" — which produced the significant concept of "sustainable development". This contribution to world affairs led to her receiving in 1988 the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament, and Development.

Norwegian political leader Gro Harlem Brundtland (born 1939) was the first Scandinavian woman to serve as a prime minister (1981; 1986-1989; 1990-1997). Brundtland also paved the way for women in the United Nations when she was asked by UN Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar to establish and chair the World Commission for Environment and Development in 1983.

Norwegian prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland, born in Oslo in 1939, was both the first woman and the youngest person ever to hold Norway's highest ranking political office. Her father, Gudmund Harlem, Norway's Minister of Social Affairs (1955-61) and Minister of Defense (1961-63, 63-65) was a strong influence on her early political development and as a young adult Brundtland was actively involved in the Labour party's student movement.

Brundtland earned her medical degree from the University of Oslo in 1963 and earned a Master of Public Health degree from Harvard University in 1965. Returning to Norway after graduation, she first served as a medical officer at the Norwegian Directorate of Health (1966-68) and then became assistant medical director to Oslo's Board of Health (1968-74).

In 1974, Brundtland was "discovered" by Prime Minister Trygve Brattelishe and appointed Minister of the Environment, a position she held until her resignation in 1979. She served as deputy leader of Labour's parliamentary group from 1975-81 and was elected to the Storting (Norway's Parliament) for the city of Oslo in 1977. While in the Storting, Bruntland headed two important standing committees, finance and foreign affairs. (She was leader of the Committee on Foreign and Constitutional Affairs for the years 1980-81, 1981-86, and 1989-90.)

In February of 1981 the acting Labour prime minister retired. Urged on by Labour party members, Bruntland claimed the prime minister's seat. Two months later she also took control of the party chairmanship. However, Brundtland's first term as prime minister was short-lived. The Labour party lost the October 1981 elections to a Conservative coalition which named Kåre Willoch to the post of prime minister.

In May 1986, Brundtland was reelected as Labour party prime minister. This time she remained in office until 1989 when the Conservative party again defeated the Labour government.

With the collapse of the Conservative party's administration in 1990, Brundtland became prime minister for the third time. This time she was forced to build a coalition with minor parties to hold a majority in the 165-seat National Assembly. Bruntland's fourth term as Norway's prime minister, begun in 1993, drew to a close in October, 1996, when she submitted her resignation. She stepped down from office on 25 October 1997.

As a leader of the Norwegian Labour Party, Brundtland became the single most influential politician in Norway during the 1980s and early 1990s. Her extraordinary career can be explained in terms of both her own political and personal beliefs as well as the political times in which she lived. In contrast to the typical working-class style of the Labour movement, Brundtland was a young, professional, female candidate. She was the most likely candidate at a time when the Labour party felt an urgent need to modernize its image.

Bruntland's sound analytical skills, good humor, and charm earned her a reputation as someone able to deal with difficult conflicts. Brundtland would thoroughly study the background of all contenders, as well as their positions on an issue. She would carefully avoid any commitment on an issue until the conflicting sides reached a joint resolution. As a final step, she would quickly implement any resolutions reached by the opposing sides.

Brundtland's approach to conflict resolution was a major factor in resolution of the "Rocket Crisis," the debate led by the European Socialist party following the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's decision on missile deployment in Europe (1981). She also played an instrumental role in resolving the devastating disagreement among Norwegian Socialists on the European Community question. Both issues threatened to split the Labour party and would almost certainly have done so without "the Gro grip," the nickname given to describe Bruntland's approach to conflict resolution.

In 1983, United Nations Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar asked Bruntland to establish and chair the World Commission on Environment and Development. Bruntland approached the task of hammering out compromises on international environmental issues in the same way she handled other conflicts. The Commission's 1987 report, Our Common Future, identified the future of global ecology as sustainable growth through environment protection and economic growth.

By 1990, Bruntland was well-known internationally because of her participation in the Independent Commission on Disarmament and Security (the Palme Commission), her vice-presidency of Socialist International, and her role in the first UN Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro (1992). Bruntland, often referred to in media releases as "mother earth," wrote several articles on political, environmental, and developmental issues.

Brundtland has received several international awards, including the Third World Prize (1988), the Indira Gandhi Prize (1988), the Onassis Foundation's Delphi Prize (1992), and the Charlemagne Prize (1994). She is married to Arne Olav Brundtland, a research director at the Oslo Institute of Foreign Studies, and has four children.

Further Reading

For additional information on Brundtland see Ms. (January 1988) and Time (September 23, 1989). Also see the World Commission on Ecology and Development report Our Common Future, Oxford University Press (1987). For a general background survey of Scandinavian politics, strategies, and social developments see Daedalus (Summer 1988).

For more information on Gro Harlem Brundtland, visit Britannica.com.

Gro Harlem Brundtland
Brundtland addressing the Congress of the Norwegian Labour Party, 2007. Photo: Harry Wad
Prime Minister of Norway
In office 4 February 1981 – 14 October 1981 9 May 1986 - 16 October 1989 3 November 1990 - 25 October 1996
Preceded by	Odvar Nordli Kåre Willoch Jan P. Syse
Succeeded by	Kåre Willoch Jan P. Syse Thorbjørn Jagland
Director-General of World Health Organization
In office 1998 – 2003
Preceded by	Hiroshi Nakajima
Succeeded by	Lee Jong-Wook
Born	20 April 1939 (1939-04-20) (age 70) Oslo, Norway
Nationality	Norwegian
Spouse	Arne Olav Brundtland (4 children)

Gro Harlem Brundtland (Norwegian pronunciation: [ɡruː hɑːɭɛm brʉntlɑnː]  ( listen)) (born Gro Harlem, 20 April, 1939) is a Norwegian politician, diplomat, and physician, and an international leader in sustainable development and public health. She is a former Prime Minister of Norway, and has served as the Director General of the World Health Organization. She now serves as a Special Envoy on Climate Change for the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.^[1] In 2008 she became the recipient of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Architecture. ^[2]

Contents 1 Domestic career 2 International career 3 The Elders 4 Biography 5 Controversy over cancer treatment payments 6 References 7 External links

Domestic career

Born in Oslo, Brundtland was educated as a Medical Doctor (cand. med.) at the University of Oslo in 1963, and Master of Public Health at Harvard University in 1965. From 1966 to 1969, she worked as a physician at the Directorate of Health (Helsedirektoratet), and from 1969 she worked as a doctor in Oslo's public school health service. She was Norwegian Minister for Environmental Affairs from 1974 to 1979, and became Norway's first — and to date only — female Prime Minister. She served as Prime Minister from February to October in 1981.

Brundtland became Norwegian Prime Minister for two subsequent terms from 9 May 1986 until 16 October 1989 (This cabinet was internationally renowned for its large percentage of female ministers. Eight of the eighteen total were female) and from 3 November 1990 until 25 October 1996, when she resigned and retired from Norwegian politics, and was succeeded by Thorbjørn Jagland. She resigned as leader of the Norwegian Labour Party in 1992.

Gro Harlem Brundtland is a member of Human-Etisk Forbund, the Norwegian Humanist Association.

International career

In 1983, Brundtland was invited by then United Nations Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar to establish and chair the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), widely referred to as the Brundtland Commission, developing the broad political concept of sustainable development in the course of extensive public hearings that were distinguished by their inclusiveness and published its report Our Common Future in April 1987. The Brundtland Commission provided the momentum for the 1992 Earth Summit/UNCED, that was headed by Maurice Strong, who had been a prominent member of the Brundtland Commission. The Brundtland Commission also provided momentum for Agenda 21.

Brundtland was elected Director-General of the World Health Organization in May 1998. In this capacity, Brundtland adopted a far-reaching approach to public health, establishing a Commission on Macroeconomics and Health, chaired by Jeffrey Sachs, and addressing violence as a major public health issue. Brundtland spearheaded the movement, now worldwide, to achieve the abolition of cigarette smoking by education and persuasion.

Under her leadership, the World Health Organization was one of the first major employers to require freedom from tobacco addiction as a condition of employment. Brundtland was recognized in 2003 by Scientific American as their Policy Leader of the Year for coordinating a rapid worldwide response to stem outbreaks of SARS. Brundtland was succeeded on 21 July 2003 by Jong-Wook Lee. In 1994. Brundtland was awarded the Charlemagne Prize of the city of Aachen.

In 2004 the British newspaper The Financial Times listed Brundtland the 4th most influential European over the last 25 years, behind Pope John Paul II, Mikhail Gorbachev and Margaret Thatcher.^{[citation needed]}

In 2006 Brundtland was a member of the Panel of Eminent Persons who reviewed the work of UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.) In May 2007, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon named Brundtland, as well as Ricardo Lagos (the former president of Chile), and Han Seung-soo (the former foreign minister of South Korea), to serve as UN Special Envoys for Climate Change.^[3]

Brundtland's hallmark political activities have been chronicled by her husband, Arne Olav Brundtland, in his two bestsellers, Married to Gro (ISBN 82-516-1647-6) and the sequel, Still married to Gro (ISBN 82-05-30726-1).

Brundtland now works for Pepsi as a consultant.^[4]

Gro Harlem Brundtland is a member of the Council of Women World Leaders, an International network of current and former women presidents and prime ministers whose mission is to mobilize the highest-level women leaders globally for collective action on issues of critical importance to women and equitable development.

The Elders

On 18 July 2007 in Johannesburg, South Africa, Nelson Mandela, Graça Machel, and Desmond Tutu convened a group of world leaders to contribute their wisdom, independent leadership and integrity to tackle some of the world's toughest problems. Nelson Mandela announced the formation of this new group, The Elders, in a speech he delivered on the occasion of his 89th birthday.

Archbishop Tutu will serve as the Chair of The Elders. The founding members of this group include Brundtland, Graça Machel, Kofi Annan, Ela Bhatt, Jimmy Carter, Li Zhaoxing, Mary Robinson and Muhammad Yunus.

“This group can speak freely and boldly, working both publicly and behind the scenes on whatever actions need to be taken,” Mandela commented. “Together we will work to support courage where there is fear, foster agreement where there is conflict, and inspire hope where there is despair.”

The Elders will be independently funded by a group of Founders, including Richard Branson, Peter Gabriel, Ray Chambers; Michael Chambers; Bridgeway Foundation; Pam Omidyar, Humanity United; Amy Robbins; Shashi Ruia, Dick Tarlow; and The United Nations Foundation.

Gro Harlem Brundtland has attended the Bilderberg meetings, and she is a member of the Club of Madrid.^[5]

Biography

She married Arne Olav Brundtland on 9 December 1960. A Humanist family, they have four children. They own a house in the south of France. Brundtland has claimed to suffer from electrical sensitivity.^[6]

Controversy over cancer treatment payments

Brundtland received an operation for uterine cancer in 2002 at Ullevål University Hospital^[7]. In 2008 it became known that during 2007 she had received two treatments at Ullevål, paid for by Norwegian public expenditures. Since she had previously notified the Norwegian authorities that she had changed residence to France, she was no longer entitled to benefits of Norwegian social security. Following intense media attention surrounding the matter, Brundtland decided to change residence once more, back to Norway, and she also announced that she would be paying for the treatments herself.^[8]

References

1. ^ "UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Appoints Special Envoys on Climate Change". United Nations. 2007. http://www.un.org/climatechange/2007highlevel/envoys.shtml. Retrieved on 2007-08-03. 
2. ^ "International Leader in Environmental Issues to Receive 2008 Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Architecture". University of Virginia. Feb 15, 2008. http://www.arch.virginia.edu/spotlight/TJMedal2008/. 
3. ^ U.N. Envoys Seek Input on Climate Change, The Guardian, 10 May 2007
4. ^ Pepsi-Gro slår tilbake: - Latterlig., VG nett, 12 December 2007
5. ^ (English) The Club of Madrid an independent organization dedicated to strengthening democracy around the world by drawing on the unique experience and resources of its Members – 66 democratic former heads of state and government.
6. ^ Dalsegg, Aud (9 March 2002). "Får hodesmerter av mobilstråling" (in Norwegian). Dagbladet.no (Oslo, Norway: Dagbladet). http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gro_Harlem_Brundtland&action=submit. Retrieved on 2008-02-29. 
7. ^ (Norwegian) VG.no:Betalte operasjon i 2002
8. ^ (Norwegian)VG.no:Gro flytter hjem

External links

• Gro Harlem Brundtland at Club of Madrid
• Feature on Gro Harlem Brundtland by the International Museum of Women.

Sustainable development portal

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Gro Harlem Brundtland

Non-profit organization positions
Preceded by Hiroshi Nakajima	Director General of the World Health Organization 1998–2003	Succeeded by Jong-Wook Lee
Political offices
Preceded by Tor Halvorsen	Norwegian Minister of the Environment 1974–1979	Succeeded by Rolf Arthur Hansen
Party political offices
Preceded by Reiulf Steen	Chairman of the Norwegian Labour Party 1981–1992	Succeeded by Thorbjørn Jagland

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