Germany's former Chancellor Angela Merkel dedicated a prestigious U.N. refugee agency award to volunteers, as she praised Türkiye for welcoming millions of Syrian refugees during the crisis.
Merkel accepted the Nansen Refugee Award from the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Geneva on Monday. The award recognizes Merkel's role at the height of the Syrian refugee crisis in 2015 and 2016 when she opened Germany's borders.
In her acceptance speech, Merkel quoted German writer and poet Erich Kästner: "There is nothing good unless you do it."
At the time of the refugee crisis, many people in German municipalities and communities as well as many volunteers had helped to overcome the challenges, Merkel said.
"From my point of view, this honor therefore goes above all to the countless people who pitched in at the time, it is thanks to them that we managed the situation, that we made it," Merkel said.
Merkel said she would donate the $150,000 prize for the UNHCR’s Nansen Refugee Award to four other regional laureates who were also recognized at a Geneva ceremony.
Filippo Grandi, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, welcomed Merkel and presented her with the award after hailing “her leadership, her courage, her compassion, her positive, principled influence in Europe and in the world."
Merkel, who has not made many public appearances since leaving office in December, praised others for the welcome that she oversaw at a time when many Syrians were fleeing entrenched conflict at home — a conflict that continues today.
“From my point of view, this honor I am receiving here today goes above all to the countless people who pitched in then, and whom we have to thank for the fact that we coped with the situation,” she said.
She also praised Türkiye, Syria’s northern neighbor, for taking in 3.8 million refugees, and pointed to the huge numbers of Syrian refugees taken in by Lebanon and Jordan relative to their populations.
“For Germany, the situation back then was a challenge, but we know that other countries were faced with even bigger tasks," Merkel said.
The UNHCR Nansen Refugee Award honors individuals, groups or organizations that go “above and beyond the call of duty” to protect refugees and other displaced and stateless people.
More than 60 laureates have received the award since it was founded in 1954 to celebrate Fridtjof Nansen, a Norwegian scientist, explorer and diplomat who was the first commissioner for refugees in the League of Nations — the predecessor of the United Nations.
Past laureates include U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, opera star Luciano Pavarotti and the Doctors Without Borders humanitarian agency.
