Meikswe Myanmar, a civil society organization operating in several states and regions in Myanmar, has been chosen as this year’s regional winner of the Nansen Refugee Award in the Asia region. The organization serves a diverse range of vulnerable groups from people living with HIV to internally displaced people and their host communities, said UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, on Tuesday. Meikswe Myanmar has been named a regional winner of the Nansen Refugee Award in recognition of their longstanding commitment to aiding and empowering communities uprooted by conflict, said the UN agency. It also acknowledges their contributions in supporting and building the capacity of local organizations to effectively respond to the needs of displaced populations and host communities. Founded in 2004, Meikswe Myanmar – meaning Friends of Myanmar - implements a range of activities to support internally displaced people, their host communities and other vulnerable groups in close to 300 locations across six states and regions, namely Kayin, Rakhine and Shan States as well as Magway, Mandalay and Yangon Regions. “Our value is the focus on fragile and forgotten communities that are often in hard-to-access areas, as well as minority groups,” said Naw Bway Khu, Meikswe Myanmar’s founder. The award highlights the crucial role of local organizations in responding to growing humanitarian needs in Myanmar. “First responders are often local communities and grassroots organizations. Rapid humanitarian action would not be possible without them”, said Hai Kyung Jun, UNHCR’s Representative in Myanmar. “Humanitarian assistance undertaken by the international aid agencies like UNHCR complements what resourceful local organizations like Meikswe Myanmar are already doing on the ground to help those in need.” Meikswe Myanmar’s programming is centered on long-term, bottom-up philosophies of empowerment and resilience, grounded in community needs. Emphasis is placed on supporting women and girls in particular. “Communities are a fundamental building block of society. If they have strength, knowledge, and systems that enable them to progress, our country can also develop,” said Naw Bway Khu.   The Nansen Refugee Award is an annual award that honours individuals, groups and organizations who go above and beyond the call of duty to protect and assist forcibly displaced and stateless people. It is sponsored by the governments of Norway and Switzerland. This year, the global winner is Angela Merkel. There are also four regional winners, including Meikswe Myanmar in Asia, as well as winners in Africa, the Americas and the Middle East.  

Dr Angela Merkel, the former Federal Chancellor of Germany, has been named for the 2022 UNHCR Nansen Refugee Award. UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, made the announcement on Tuesday that she will receive the award. Read: Japan, UNHCR sign $3.5 million partnership deal for protection of Rohingyas in Bangladesh The award will be presented to the former German Chancellor in Geneva on October 10 at a ceremony along with the regional winners. Each year, the award – named after the Norwegian explorer, scientist, diplomat and humanitarian Fridtjof Nansen – is given to an individual, group or organisation who has gone above and beyond the call of duty to protect refugees, internally displaced or stateless people. Under then Federal Chancellor Merkel’s leadership, Germany welcomed more than 1.2 million refugees and asylum seekers in 2015 and 2016 – at the height of the conflict in Syria and amid deadly violence in other places. Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, praised former Federal Chancellor Merkel’s determination to protect asylum-seekers and to stand up for human rights, humanitarian principles and international law. “By helping more than a million refugees to survive and rebuild, Angela Merkel displayed great moral and political courage,” Grandi said. “She showed what can be achieved when politicians take the right course of action and work to find solutions.” The selection committee said it was recognizing former Federal Chancellor Merkel’s “leadership, courage and compassion in ensuring the protection of hundreds of thousands of desperate people” as well as her efforts to find “viable long-term solutions” for those seeking safety. Read: UNHCR raises concerns over Afghan refugees forced returns from Tajikistan The UNHCR Nansen Refugee Award selection committee has also honoured four regional winners for 2022. This year marks a century since Fridtjof Nansen – the first High Commissioner for Refugees – was awarded the 1922 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to repatriate prisoners of war and to protect millions of refugees displaced by conflict, revolution and the collapse of the Romanov, Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian Empires. It is also 100 years since the creation of the Nansen passport, an identity document for refugees, many of them stateless, that also enabled its holders to move across borders in search of work.