Merkel: Honored by the UN for her policy in the 2015 refugee crisis

To the thousands of volunteers who welcomed the refugees who arrived in Germany in 2015, the former chancellor dedicated Angela Merkel the “Nansen” prize awarded yesterday in Geneva by the High Commission of UN for Refugees (UNHCR).

“By helping more than a million refugees to survive and rebuild their lives, Angela Merkel has shown extraordinary moral and political courage,” said UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi, presenting the award, noting the then-chancellor’s reactions from her own party.

“From my perspective, today’s honor goes mainly to the countless people who contributed back then in whatever way they could. Thanks to them we were able to manage the situation, thanks to them we succeeded”stressed Mrs. Merkel and reiterated that “no refugee should be sent back to their home country if they are threatened with persecution there – the rights of refugees must be respected”.

The former chancellor also said she was proud of Germans, who then agreed with her despite the huge challenge the refugee wave posed to Germany as well, and expressed hope that in the future more people will feel the need to offer shelter to those in need. “No one leaves their home just like that, without thinking about it,” he said characteristically, according to the Athens News Agency.

The Nansen Prize, which has been awarded since 1954 in memory of the first head of the UNHCR, Norwegian diplomat and philanthropist Fridtjof Nansen, comes with a medal and a cash prize of $150,000. Mrs. Merkel asked that the prize money be shared among this year’s “regional winners”: In Africa, the Mbera Fire Brigade, a volunteer refugee firefighting group in Mauritania that has extinguished more than 100 forest fires and planted thousands of trees, in America , Vicenda Gonzalez, who for nearly 50 years has provided services to displaced and other vulnerable people, including establishing a cocoa cooperative in Costa Rica, Asia Pacific, Makeswe Myanmar, a humanitarian organization, and the Middle East and North Africa , Nagham Hassan, an Iraqi gynecologist who provides medical and psychosocial care to Yazidi girls and women who have survived persecution, slavery and gender-based violence at the hands of extremist groups in northern Iraq.