| Nansen Refugee Award | |
| Awarded For: | Outstanding service to the cause of refugees |
| Presenter: | United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees |
| Location: | Geneva |
| Year: | 1954 |
| Reward: | US$150,000 |
The Nansen Refugee Award is a medal issued annually by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to an individual, group, or organization in recognition of outstanding service to the cause of refugees, displaced, or stateless people.[1] The award was established by UNHCR the organizations first High Commissioner, Gerrit Jan van Heuven Goedhart 1954 as a tribute to Fridtjof Nansen.[2] Fridtjof Nansen was a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, explorer, and League of Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the award was established in honour of his work to support refugees.[3] Van Heuven Goedhart felt that creating an award would increase the world's attention to the needs of refugees and increase global refugee aid.
The inaugural awardee was Eleanor Roosevelt in 1954.[4] Every year, the prize is presented at a ceremony in the Bâtiment des Forces Motrices, in Geneva.[5] [6] The medal is accompanied by a $150,000 US dollar prize.[7] The award was expanded in 2017 to include regional winners for Africa, Asia, the Americas, the Middle East, and Europe.[8]
In 2018, the award was described as the "other Nobel" prize by NPR.[9]
| Year | Image | Laureate | Country | Office held, or rationale | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1954 | Eleanor Roosevelt | as "the first chair of the UN Human Rights Commission" | [10] | |||
| 1955 | Queen Juliana | as Queen of Netherlands | [11] | |||
| 1956 | as "president of the Federation of Women's Clubs, delegate to the Geneva conferences of the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration and director of the Office of Refugees Migration and Voluntary Assistance" | [12] | ||||
| Gerrit Jan van Heuven Goedhart | United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (1951 to 1956); awarded posthumously | |||||
| 1957 | The League of Red Cross Societies | for its work on behalf of the Hungarian refugees | [13] | |||
| 1958 | David Hoggett | for work with Hungarian refugees in Austria | [14] | |||
| Pierre Jacobsen | Deputy Director of the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration; awarded posthumously | |||||
| 1959 | outstanding work on behalf of refuges...was Austrian Minister of the Interior in 1956 when 180,000 Hungarians took refuge in Austria | [15] | ||||
| 1960 | Christopher Chataway, Colin Jones, Trevor Philpott, Timothy Raison | For their roles in creating World Refugee Year, raising £9 million | [16] | |||
| 1961 | King of Norway | |||||
| 1962 | Tasman Heyes | a tribute not only to an able and far-sighted friend of refugees, but also to the generosity of his countrymen | [17] | |||
| 1963 | The International Council for Voluntary Agencies | for support to refugees in Africa | [18] | |||
| 1964 | her "whole life had been devoted to the service of those in need" | [19] | ||||
| Francois Preziosi & Jean Plicque | For their refugee-support work in eastern Congo; awarded posthumously | [20] | ||||
| 1965 | Lucie Chevalley | for "exceptional service she has rendered to the cause of refugees in France and in a number of other European countries during the past forty-five years" | [21] | |||
| for being "associated with many charitable societies and institutions and was a staunch supporter of human rights"; awarded posthumously | ||||||
| Jørgen Nørredam | for "dedicated service to refugees in Europe, North, Central and East Africa for many years"; awarded posthumously | |||||
| 1967 | Prince Bernhard | |||||
| 1968 | ||||||
| Charles H. Jordan | awarded posthumously | |||||
| 1969 | Princess Princep Shah | |||||
| 1971 | Louise Holborn | |||||
| 1972 | ||||||
| 1974 | Helmut Frenz | |||||
| 1975 | James J. Norris | |||||
| 1976 | Olav Hodne | |||||
| awarded posthumously | ||||||
| 1977 | The Malaysian Red Crescent Society | MRC efforts in aiding thousands of refugees who arrived in Malaysia as a result of the conflict in Indo-China | ||||
| 1978 | Seretse Khama | |||||
| 1979 | Valéry Giscard d'Estaing | |||||
| 1980 | Maryluz Schloeter Paredes | |||||
| 1981 | Paul Cullen | |||||
| 1982 | ||||||
| 1983 | Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere | |||||
| 1984 | Lewis M. Hiller, Jeff Kass, and Gregg Turay | |||||
| 1985 | ||||||
| 1986 | The People of Canada (accepted by Governor General Jeanne Sauvé) | |||||
| 1987 | ||||||
| 1988 | Syed Munir Husain | |||||
| 1991 | Libertina Appolus Amathila | |||||
| awarded posthumously | ||||||
| 1992 | ||||||
| 1993 | Médecins Sans Frontières | |||||
| 1995 | ||||||
| 1996 | Handicap International | |||||
| 1997 | Joannes Klas | |||||
| 1998 | ||||||
| 2000 | Jelena Silajdžić | |||||
| Abune Paulos | ||||||
| Lao Mong Hay | ||||||
| Miguel Angel Estrella | ||||||
| United Nations volunteers | ||||||
| 2001 | Luciano Pavarotti | |||||
| 2002 | Arne Rinnan and the crew of the MV Tampa | |||||
| 2003 | Annalena Tonelli | |||||
| 2004 | Memorial Human Rights Centre | |||||
| 2005 | ||||||
| 2006 | Akio Kanai | |||||
| 2007 | Katrine Camilleri | |||||
| 2008 | Chris Clark & United Nations Mine Action Service | |||||
| 2009 | Edward Kennedy | |||||
| 2010 | Alixandra Fazzina | |||||
| 2011 | Society for Humanitarian Solidarity | |||||
| 2012 | [22] | |||||
| 2013 | [23] | |||||
| 2014 | Butterflies with New Wings Building a Future | [24] | ||||
| 2015 | [25] | |||||
| 2016 | Efi Latsoudi & Konstantinos Mitragas | [26] | ||||
| 2017 | Zannah Mustapha | [27] | ||||
| 2018 | Evan Atar Adaha | [28] [29] | ||||
| 2019 | Azizbek Ashurov | [30] | ||||
| 2020 | [31] | |||||
| 2021 | Jeel Albena Association for Humanitarian Development | [32] | ||||
| 2022 | Angela Merkel | [33] |
| Year | Region | Image | Laureate | Rationale | Country | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Africa | CIYOTA | [34] | ||||
| 2017 | Asia | Bernard Wirth | |||||
| 2017 | Americas | Friar Tomas | |||||
| 2017 | Europe | Hej Främling! | |||||
| 2017 | Middle East | Ihsan Ezedeen | [35] | ||||
| 2018 | Asia | Tuenjai Deetes | [36] | ||||
| 2018 | Americas | Samira Harnish | [37] | ||||
| 2018 | Europe | Andreas Hollstein and the town of Altena | [38] | ||||
| 2018 | Middle East | Reclaim Childhood | [39] | ||||
| 2019 | Africa | Evariste Mfaume | [40] | ||||
| 2019 | Asia | Alberto Cairo | [41] | ||||
| 2019 | Americas | Bianka Rodriguez | |||||
| 2019 | Europe | Humanitarian Corridors | [42] | ||||
| 2019 | Middle East | Abeer Khreisha | |||||
| 2020 | Africa | Sabuni Francoise Chikunda | [43] | ||||
| 2020 | Asia | Rozma Ghafouri | [44] | ||||
| 2020 | Europe | Tetiana Barantsova | |||||
| 2020 | Middle East | Rana Dajani | |||||
| 2021 | Africa | Roukiatou Maiga | [45] | ||||
| Diambendi Madiega | |||||||
| 2021 | Asia | Saleema Rehman | |||||
| 2021 | Americas | Santiago Ávila | |||||
| 2021 | Europe | Nikola Kovačević | |||||
| 2022 | Africa | Ahmedou Ag Albohary | [46] | ||||
| 2022 | Asia | Naw Bway Khu | |||||
| 2022 | Americas | Vicenta González | |||||
| 2022 | Middle East | Nagham Hasan |