“Oh Angela, Angela, my home is your home.
Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel (2005-2021) won the Nansen Prize from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
This distinction reflects her determination to welcome asylum seekers when she was in office.
Recalling that Germany welcomed more than 1.2 million refugees and asylum seekers in 2015 and 2016, at the peak of a migration crisis fueled in particular by the war in Syria, the UNHCR selection committee praised "the leadership, courage and compassion" of the former leader.
At the time, Angela Merkel described the situation as “a test for our European values as rarely before”.
⚡NEWS: Former Federal Chancellor of Germany Dr. Angela Merkel is the global laureate of the 2022 UNHCR Nansen Refugee Award.
#NansenAward pic.twitter.com/xEgkBjhqfv
— UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency (@Refugees) October 4, 2022
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The Nansen Prize, created in 1954 in honor of the first UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Norwegian Arctic explorer and humanitarian Fridtjof Nansen (1861-1930), recognizes outstanding achievements in the humanitarian field.
"By helping more than a million refugees to survive and rebuild, Angela Merkel has shown great moral and political courage," UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi said in a statement.
“It was real leadership calling on the compassion of all of us, standing firm in the face of those who preached fear and discrimination.
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Iraqi gynecologist and fire brigade equally distinguished
Angela Merkel will receive her prize and the 150,000 dollars (151,500 euros) which accompany it during a ceremony in Geneva (Switzerland) on October 10.
Four other regional winners will each receive 50,000 dollars (50,600 euros).
Among them is Nagham Hasan, an Iraqi gynecologist who helped Yazidi girls and women who were in the hands of jihadist groups.
Will also be rewarded the fire brigade of Mbera in Mauritania (composed entirely of refugees), the Burmese humanitarian organization Meikswe Myanmar as well as Vincenta Gonzalez, who created a cocoa cooperative in Costa Rica to help refugees and the women hosting them.
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Angela Merkel
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