The Epstein revelations are a foreign policy scandal for Norway. Three former ministers and super-diplomats from the Labour Party and the Conservatives are involved. There are calls for an independent investigation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

But Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide (Labour) is putting his foot down. Nor does former Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide (H) want an independent investigation. Are they worried that their activities in Geneva will be scrutinised?

While there have been calls for an independent investigation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the wake of the Epstein scandal, Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide has limited himself to proposing an “external review led by the Norwegian Parliament”. In other words, not an independent investigation, but an investigation that the Labour Party and its supporting parties in the Storting can control, probably through related political horse-trading.

Sylvi Listhaug (FrP) wants to set up an independent investigation committee as soon as possible. But Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre opposes FrP’s proposal. Former Norwegian Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide (H) joins the Labour Party with formulations that point to internal rather than external review in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This means that the current and former foreign ministers want the MFA to scrutinise itself in practice.

There is reason to ask where this aversion to independent scrutiny comes from. And while that discussion is ongoing and no one has been called in for questioning in what is probably Norway’s biggest foreign policy scandal in modern times, with suspicions of gross corruption, no evidence is being secured.

Could the explanation for Barth Eide’s and Eriksen Søreide’s opposition to an independent investigation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs be found in Geneva, specifically in the organisation Centre For Humanitarian Dialogue (HD)?

The Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD) has Ine Eriksen Søreide on its board of directors, and Espen Barth Eide was on the board from 2013 to 2021, the last two years as chairman. The organisation has a budget of more than half a billion kroner, and Norway is the largest contributor, together with Switzerland.

Chairman of the Board and Member of Parliament

When the Norwegian Labour Party lost the 2013 election, outgoing Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide (Ap) had to find a new job. While Børge Brende (H) took over his former office, Barth Eide travelled to Switzerland to join the board of HD.

The organisation has around 250 employees and over 20 field offices on several continents. It was established in co-operation between Switzerland, Norway and the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1999, according to Panorama News.

– HD is a highly professional organisation that has achieved important results, often quietly, in a number of mediation and reconciliation processes around the world. In some contexts, discreet, private mediation is just as successful as high-profile mediation by states and formal international organisations,” said Espen Barth Eide when he was promoted to chairman of the organisation in 1999, while serving as a member of parliament for the Labour Party.

At the time, he was a member of the Energy and Environment Committee, so there was no apparent conflict of interest between his chairmanship of the private foreign service and HD. However, “sustainability and the environment” is described as a fundamental prerequisite for HD’s activities, as the website states: «HD fully recognises climate change as a threat to global security and as a driver of conflict».

At least NOK 100 million annually

Norwegian budget and white papers regularly mention HD as a partner in peace and mediation efforts.

In 2018, Norway was reimbursed NOK 7 million after the chief financial officer had embezzled NOK 30 million. It is therefore assumed that this share corresponds to Norway’s share of support to HD, i.e. 23 per cent. A conservative estimate is that Norway contributes at least NOK 100 million annually.

Parliamentary representative and board member

When the Labour Party won the election in 2021, and Barth Eide took office as Minister of Climate and Environment, he had to step down as Chairman of the Board of HD. Apparently it was fine to be chairman of an international organisation that receives significant funding, approved by the Norwegian parliament, while at the same time being a member of parliament. But a ministerial post was clearly not possible to combine with this position.

But as one of the founders of HD, and among the largest donors, Norway probably has a permanent, perhaps purchased (?) board seat in the organisation. When Espen Barth Eide stepped down, outgoing Norwegian Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide (H) became a board member of the organisation in 2021. At the same time, she became chair of the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee of the Norwegian Parliament.

After the parliamentary election in 2025, Eriksen Søreide continued as committee chair, and she is also chair of the Extended Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee. This is her main committee in the current parliamentary term, while she also sits on the board of HD, a private foreign service organisation funded by Norway.

Conflicts of interest and fees?

Document has not asked how board positions in international organisations sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the approval of the Storting can be combined with the job as a member of parliament and committee chair. Nor have we asked what benefits Espen Barth Eide (Ap) and Ine Eriksen Søreide (H) have received for their positions in the Supreme Court. The reason for this is experience. This type of enquiry is asked to be sent by email to an information consultant who spends two days providing an answer that often cannot be used for anything meaningful. However, this matter will be forwarded to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Norwegian Parliament, with a request for comment.

An independent investigation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in light of the Epstein scandal will also shed light on the relationship between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and HD, and possibly what benefits Barth Eide and Eriksen Søreide have received, as well as any conflicts of interest they have had between sitting in the Storting and on the board of HD.