Jan Egeland (born 12 September 1957) is a Norwegian diplomat, political scientist, humanitarian leader, and former Labour Party politician who has been Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council since 2013. He served as State Secretary in the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1990 to 1997 and as United Nations Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator from 2003 to 2006.

Over the course of his career, Egeland has also served as deputy director of Human Rights Watch, director of Human Rights Watch Europe, director of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, secretary general of the Norwegian Red Cross, and chair of Amnesty International Norway. He also holds a post as professor II at the University of Stavanger.

The son of Norwegian politician Kjølv Egeland, Egeland attended Stavanger Cathedral School. He holds a mag.art. in political science from the University of Oslo. He was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, where his thesis, contrasting American and Scandinavian diplomatic models, was published as a book. He was also a fellow at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) and The Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace, Jerusalem.

Egeland began working with Amnesty International while in high school, campaigning for the disappeared in Chile in the 1970s, and at age 19 spent a month working for Catholic relief organization Minuto de Dios with the Motilon people in Colombia.

Egeland later served as chair of Amnesty International in Norway, and vice-chair of the international executive committee of Amnesty International, which he was elected on to at the age of 23, the youngest ever to hold the position. He also worked as director for the International Department of the Norwegian Red Cross, head of Development Studies at the Henry Dunant Institute in Geneva and a radio and television international news reporter for the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation.

Egeland first attracted attention as secretary general of the Norwegian Red Cross when he pioneered the fight against the proliferation of small arms and joined the international campaign against landmines. With the onset of war in Iraq in 2003, Egeland alerted the international community to the worsening civilian conditions in Baghdad and Basra.

Egeland's career also includes service to his government as State Secretary in the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1990 to 1997. In that capacity, he initiated two Norwegian Emergency Preparedness Systems, which have provided more than 2,000 experts and humanitarian workers to international organizations.

During his time in office, Egeland actively participated in a number of peace processes. He co-initiated and co-organized the Norwegian channel between Israel and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1992, which led to the Oslo Accord (Declaration of Principles) of September 1993. He directed the Norwegian facilitation of the United Nations-led peace talks leading up to ceasefire agreement between the Government of Guatemala and the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca (URNG) guerrillas signed in Oslo in 1996. He also led the host delegation when the Ottawa Treaty to ban landmines was successfully negotiated and adopted in Oslo in 1997.