Nansen Refugee Award

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The Nansen Refugee Award formerly known as the Nansen Medal is given annually by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to individuals or groups in recognition of outstanding service to the cause of refugees.

The award is named after Fridtjof Nansen, the famous Norwegian explorer, scientist and politician, who was the first High Commissioner for Refugees at the League of Nations, a predecessor of the UN.

The award was first given in 1955 and since 1979 a monetary prize has been added to the medal. In 2005 the monetary prize consisted of $100,000.

To date, Canada is the only country to have received the award as a nation. It was accepted on behalf of the people of Canada by then-Governor General Jeanne Sauvé

[edit] List of Laureates

• 1954: Eleanor Roosevelt (USA)
• 1955: Queen Juliana (Netherlands)
• 1956: Dorothy D. Houghton (USA) and Gerrit J van Heuven Goedhart (posthumously) (Netherlands)
• 1957: The League of Red Cross Societies
• 1958: David Hoggett (United Kingdom) and Pierre Jacobsen (posthumously) (France)
• 1959: Oskar Helmer (Austria)
• 1960: Christopher Chataway, Colin Jones, Trevor Philpott and Timothy Raison (United Kingdom)
• 1961: Olav V (Norway)
• 1962: Tasman Heyes (Australia)
• 1963: The International Council for Voluntary Agencies
• 1964: May Curwen (United Kingdom), François Preziosi (posthumously) (Italy) and Jean Plicque (posthumously) (France)
• 1965: Lucie Chevalley (France), Ana Rosa Schliepper de Martinez Guerrero (posthumously) (Argentina) and Jørgen Nørredam (posthumously) (Denmark)
• 1967: Prince Bernhard (Netherlands)
• 1968: Bernard Arcens (Senegal) and Charles H. Jordan (posthumously) (USA)
• 1969: Princess Princep Shah (Nepal)
• 1972: Svana Fridriksdottir (Iceland)
• 1974: Helmut Frenz (Chile)
• 1975: James J. Norris (USA)
• 1976: Olav Hodne (Norway) and Marie-Louise Bertschinger (posthumously) (Switzerland)
• 1977: The Malaysian Red Crescent Society (Malaysia)
• 1978: Seretse Khama (Botswana)
• 1979: Valéry Giscard d'Estaing (France)
• 1980: Maryluz Schloeter Paredes (Venezuela)
• 1981: Paul A. Cullen (Australia)
• 1982: Crown Princess Sonja (Norway)
• 1983: Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere (Tanzania)
• 1984: Lewis M. Hiller, Jeff Kass and Gregg Turay (USA)
• 1985: Paulo Evaristo Arns (Brazil)
• 1986: The people of Canada (accepted by Jeanne Sauvé the Governor General of Canada)
• 1987: Juan Carlos I (Spain)
• 1988: Syed Munir Husain (Pakistan)
• 1991: Paul Weis (posthumously) (Austria) and Libertina Appolus Amathila (Namibia)
• 1992: Richard von Weizsäcker (Germany)
• 1993: Médecins sans Frontières
• 1995: Graça Machel (Mozambique)
• 1996: Handicap International
• 1997: Joannes Klas (USA)
• 1998: Mustafa Abdülcemil Qırımoğlu (Ukraine)
• 2000: Jelena Silajdzic (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Abune Paulos (Ethiopia), Lao Mong Hay (Cambodia), Miguel Angel Estrella (Argentina) and the United Nations volunteers
• 2001: Luciano Pavarotti (Italy)
• 2002: Arne Rinnan (Norway), the crew of the MV Tampa and Wallenius Wilhelmsen ASA
• 2003: Annalena Tonelli, (Italy)
• 2004: Memorial Human Rights Centre (Russia)
• 2005: Marguerite Barankitse (Burundi)
• 2006: Akio Kanai (Japan)
• 2007: Katrine Camilleri (Malta)

[edit] Sources

• UNHCR The Nansen Refugee Award