2024 UNHCR Nansen Refugee Awards honour champions for refugee inclusion in Europe

Five trailblazing women – a nun, an activist, a social entrepreneur, a volunteer aid worker and an advocate for ending statelessness – will be honoured as winners of the 2024 UNHCR Nansen Refugee Award from UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.

“All too often, women face heightened risks of discrimination and violence, especially when forced to flee,” said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi. “But these five winners show how women are also playing a critical role in the humanitarian response and in finding solutions.” Grandi praised their dedication to driving action in their own communities, building grassroots support, and even shaping national policies.

Among the five female awardees, this year’s regional winner for Europe, Jin Davod, is a young social entrepreneur. She drew on her own experience as a refugee to create an online platform that provides mental health support to trauma survivors and people in need of psychological assistance, including free-of-charge services for refugee and local communities in need.

Born in Raqqa, Syria, Davod fled with her family to Türkiye in 2014 to escape the conflict. She eventually resumed her education, finishing high school and embarking on a degree in computer engineering. As a second-year university student, she designed and built Peace Therapist, an online platform that matches licensed therapists with people struggling to heal and recover from traumatic events. Crucially, it helps break down language and cultural barriers that often prevent refugees from accessing mental health services. 

Peace Therapist now has a roster of over 100 psychologists providing therapy in Arabic, English, Kurdish and Turkish, making it uniquely accessible to the refugees it was designed to serve. After the devastating earthquakes that hit Türkiye and Syria in February 2023, the platform expanded its reach, offering free services and partnering with international organizations to support thousands of people impacted by the disaster from the host community as well. Users say the platform has helped them regain confidence, return to school, find work, and contribute to social cohesion.

Examples of solidarity towards refugees across Europe are further recognized this year. In addition to the global laureate and regional winners, the people of Moldova will receive honourable mention for acting as a beacon of humanity. Setting aside their own economic challenges, Moldovans rapidly transformed their schools, community spaces and homes into sanctuaries for more than one million people fleeing the full-scale war in Ukraine, with over 100,000 still hosted in the country.

A child's painting saying "Thank you Moldova" hangs in the window of a factory in Chișinău converted into accommodation for refugees from Ukraine.

© UNHCR/Caroline Bach

Thousands of volunteers, driven by a deep sense of compassion, worked tirelessly to provide food, shelter and comfort to those fleeing unimaginable horrors. This spontaneous outpouring of support gave rise to initiatives such as Moldova for Peace, a movement that united grassroots organizations, government bodies and citizens in a shared mission of refuge and inclusion.

The commitment of the people of Moldova goes beyond emergency response. It is a long-term project of inclusion and community building, where refugees are not just welcomed but also given the tools and opportunities to contribute to their new society. Moldovan citizens and civil society organizations work hand-in-hand to ensure that these new members of their community have access to education, employment and social services, fostering a sense of belonging in a foreign land.

Beyond Europe, this year’s global laureate and the three other regional winners are:

• Sister Rosita Milesi (Brazil), a nun, lawyer, social worker and movement builder who has championed the rights and dignity of people on the move for nearly 40 years, for which she was conferred the global 2024 UNHCR Nansen Refugee Award.
• Maimouna Ba (Africa), an activist from Burkina Faso who helped more than 100 displaced children return to the classroom and put over 400 displaced women on a path to financial independence.
• Nada Fadol (Middle East & North Africa), a Sudanese refugee who has mobilized essential aid for hundreds of refugee families fleeing to Egypt in search of safety.
• Deepti Gurung  (Asia-Pacific), who campaigned to reform Nepal’s citizenship laws after learning that her two daughters had become stateless – opening a path to citizenship for them and thousands more in similar straits.

The awards will be presented at a ceremony in Geneva from 7.30 p.m. CEST on 14 October. Hosted by South African actress Nomzamo Mbatha, the event will showcase the winners’ work and feature performances by Goodwill Ambassador Kat Graham, Moldovan soprano and UNHCR High-Profile Supporter Valentina Nafornita and singer/songwriter Emeli Sandé (MBE). It will also be livestreamed.

The awards are made possible through support from the Governments of Norway and Switzerland, IKEA Foundation, and the City and Canton of Geneva. They are named after the Norwegian explorer, scientist, diplomat and humanitarian Fridtjof Nansen.

The Nansen ceremony is open to journalists registered with the Palais des Nations in Geneva. A live feed will be available to broadcasters. For assistance, please contact [email protected].

For broadcasters, news organizations and other media professionals: link to the media page with b-roll, multimedia content and short bios of the winners

For more information on this topic, or to book interviews with the winners, please contact: 

• In Geneva, Carlotta Wolf, [email protected], +41 79 546 67 07
• In Geneva, Babar Baloch, [email protected], +41 79 513 95 49
• In Geneva, Mel Paramasivan, [email protected], +41 79 526 59 48