List of Nansen Refugee Award recipients

The Nansen Refugee Award is a medal issued annually by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to an individual, group or organisation in recognition of outstanding service to the cause of refugees, displaced or stateless people.Nansen Refugee Award, UNHCR The award was established by UNHCR the organisation's first High Commissioner, Gerrit Jan van Heuven Goedhart, in 1954 as a tribute to Fridtjof Nansen. 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. 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. Every year, the prize is presented at a ceremony in the Bâtiment des Forces Motrices, in Geneva. The medal is accompanied by a US$150,000 prize. The award was expanded in 2017 to include regional winners for Africa, Asia, the Americas, the Middle East and Europe.

In 2018, the award was described as the "other Nobel" prize by NPR.

List of annual laureates + YearImageLaureateCountryOffice held, or rationaleRef.1954Eleanor Rooseveltas "the first chair of the UN Human Rights Commission"1955Queen Julianaas Queen of Netherlands1956Dorothy D. Houghton 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" Gerrit Jan van Heuven GoedhartUnited Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (1951 to 1956); awarded posthumously1957The League of Red Cross Societiesfor its work on behalf of the Hungarian refugees1958David Hoggettfor work with Hungarian refugees in Austria Pierre JacobsenDeputy Director of the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration; awarded posthumously1959Oskar Helmer outstanding work on behalf of refuges...was Austrian Minister of the Interior in 1956 when 180,000 Hungarians took refuge in Austria1960Christopher Chataway, Colin Jones, Trevor Philpott, Timothy RaisonFor their roles in creating World Refugee Year, raising £9 million1961King Olav V King of Norway1962Tasman Heyesa tribute not only to an able and far-sighted friend of refugees, but also to the generosity of his countrymen1963The International Council for Voluntary Agenciesfor support to refugees in Africa1964May Curwen her "whole life had been devoted to the service of those in need" Francois Preziosi & Jean PlicqueFor their refugee-support work in eastern Congo; awarded posthumously1965Lucie Chevalleyfor "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" Ana Rosa Schlieper de Martínez Guerrero for being "associated with many charitable societies and institutions and was a staunch supporter of human rights"; awarded posthumously Jørgen Nørredamfor "dedicated service to refugees in Europe, North, Central and East Africa for many years"; awarded posthumously1967Prince Bernhard1968Bernard Arcens Charles H. Jordanawarded posthumously1969Princess Princep Shah1971Louise Holborn1972Swana Friðriksdóttir 1974Helmut Frenz1975James J. Norris1976Olav Hodne Marie-Louise Bertschinger awarded posthumously1977The Malaysian Red Crescent SocietyMRC efforts in aiding thousands of refugees who arrived in Malaysia as a result of the conflict in Indo-China1978Seretse Khama1979Valéry Giscard d'Estaing1980Maryluz Schloeter Paredes1981Paul Cullen1982Crown Princess Sonja 1983Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere1984Lewis M. Hiller, Jeff Kass, and Gregg Turay1985Paulo Evaristo Arns 1986The People of Canada (accepted by Governor General Jeanne Sauvé)1987Juan Carlos I 1988Syed Munir Husain1991Libertina Appolus Amathila Paul Weis awarded posthumously1992Richard von Weizsäcker 1993Médecins Sans Frontières1995Graça Machel 1996Handicap International1997Joannes Klas1998Mustafa Dzhemilev 2000Jelena SilajdžićAbune PaulosLao Mong HayMiguel Angel EstrellaUnited Nations volunteers2001Luciano Pavarotti2002Arne Rinnan and the crew of the MV Tampa2003Annalena Tonelli2004 Memorial Human Rights Centre2005Marguerite Barankitse 2006Akio Kanai2007Katrine Camilleri2008Chris Clark & United Nations Mine Action Service2009Edward Kennedy2010Alixandra Fazzina2011Society for Humanitarian Solidarity2012Hawa Aden Mohamed 2013Angélique Namaika 2014Butterflies with New Wings Building a Future2015Aqeela Asifi 2016Efi Latsoudi & Konstantinos Mitragas2017Zannah Mustapha2018Evan Atar Adaha2019Azizbek Ashurov2020Mayerlín Vergara Pérez 2021Jeel Albena Association for Humanitarian Development2022Angela Merkel2023Abdullahi MireFor his work to expand educational opportunities for young refugees20242025Martin Azia Sodea

Lists of regional laureates + YearRegionImageLaureateRationaleCountryRef.2017AfricaCIYOTA2017AsiaBernard Wirth2017AmericasFriar Tomas2017EuropeHej Främling!2017Middle EastIhsan Ezedeen2018AsiaTuenjai Deetes2018AmericasSamira Harnish2018Europe and the town of Altena2018Middle EastReclaim Childhood2019AfricaEvariste Mfaume2019AsiaAlberto Cairo2019AmericasBianka Rodriguez2019EuropeHumanitarian Corridors2019Middle EastAbeer Khreisha2020AfricaSabuni Francoise Chikunda2020AsiaRozma Ghafouri2020EuropeTetiana Barantsova2020Middle EastRana Dajani2021AfricaRoukiatou  MaigaDiambendi  Madiega2021AsiaSaleema Rehman2021AmericasSantiago Ávila2021EuropeNikola Kovačević2022AfricaAhmedou Ag Albohary2022AsiaNaw Bway Khu2022AmericasVicenta González2022Middle EastNagham Hasan2023AmericasElizabeth Moreno Barco2023Asia-PacificAbdullah Habib, Shahida Win, Sahat Zia, and Salim Khan2023EuropeLena Grochowska and 2023Middle East & North AfricaAsia Al-Mashreqi2024Africa2024Asia-PacificDeepti Gurung2024EuropeJin Davod2024Middle East & North AfricaNada Fadol2025AmericasPablo Moreno Cadena2025Asia-PacificNegara Nazari2025EuropeProliska2025Middle East & North AfricaTaban Shoresh

List of Nansen Refugee Award recipients

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