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2008 Nansen Refugee Award winner Chris Clark: Former soldier shares humanitarian prize

Nansen Medal, 15 September 2008

© UNHCR/P.Taggart/August 2008
Chris Clark, British programme manager for UNMACC-South Lebanon, uses models to explain the different types of munitions found in southern Lebanon.

GENEVA (UNHCR) – Chris Clark, this year's co-winner of the prestigious Nansen Refugee Award, has spent half his life working in dangerous environments. First as a decorated soldier with the British army and more recently as the coordinator of mine clearance programmes in war-ravaged nations in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

Born in London, 44-year-old Clark joined the British army in his late teens. His 17-year service was highlighted by the award of a Military Cross (MC) for conspicuous bravery under fire.

On leaving the military in the late 1990s, Clark decided on a change of career, but one that would enable him to work in the humanitarian field and utilize the leadership and practical skills picked up during his years in the army.

He was appointed UN chief of operations in Kosovo. He also worked in the Sudan as head of the UN's mine action programmes in the African country. In 2003, Clark became Programme Manager for the UN Mine Action Coordination Centre-South Lebanon (UNMACC-SL). As such he ran the UN's Mine Action Programme in the south of the Middle East nation.

His team of Lebanese and international mine clearers and supervisors have since detected and destroyed large quantities of unexploded ordnance (UXO) and tens of thousands of mines.

After the five-week war in southern Lebanon, they concentrated on clearing villages and agricultural land of lethal submunitions (bomblets) scattered via clusterbombs. They cleared 145,000 submunitions, helping pave the way for the return home of up to 1 million displaced Lebanese.

During this period, Clark also helped to evacuate vulnerable Lebanese. For this work, he was made a Member of the British Empire (MBE). He remained in the southern coastal city of Tyre during this period and was, as a result, familiar with the contamination caused by the use of clusterbombs in the south.

Clark is also a senior technical advisor and senior mine action programme manager for the UN Mine Action Service, mother organization of UNMACC-SL. He is also a qualified manager and instructor with expertise in humanitarian mine action; mine warfare and clearance; explosives; counter-terrorist search and procedures; explosive ordnance disposal and supporting subjects. He has twice been awarded commendations for helping to improve UN coordination and effectiveness.

The UN refugee agency announced on September 15 that Clark and his staff, including almost 1,000 Lebanese civilian mine clearers, were the winners of the 2008 Nansen Refugee Award. The Award, consisting of a medal and a US$100,000 monetary prize, is given out yearly to a person or group for outstanding services in supporting refugee causes.

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2008 Nansen Refugee Award

The UN refugee agency has named the British coordinator of a UN-run mine clearance programme in southern Lebanon and his civilian staff, including almost 1,000 Lebanese mine clearers, as the winners of the 2008 Nansen Refugee Award.

Christopher Clark, a former officer with the British armed forces, became manager of the UN Mine Action Coordination Centre-South Lebanon (UNMACC-SL) n 2003. His teams have detected and destroyed tons of unexploded ordnance (UXO) and tens of thousands of mines. This includes almost 145,000 submunitions (bomblets from cluster-bombs) found in southern Lebanon since the five-week war of mid-2006.

Their work helped enable the return home of almost 1 million Lebanese uprooted by the conflict. But there has been a cost – 13 mine clearers have been killed, while a further 38 have suffered cluster-bomb injuries since 2006. Southern Lebanon is once more thriving with life and industry, while the process of reconstruction continues apace thanks, in large part, to the work of the 2008 Nansen Award winners.

2008 Nansen Refugee Award

Lebanese Returnees Receive Aid

UNHCR started distributing emergency relief aid in devastated southern Lebanese villages in the second half of August. Items such as tents, plastic sheeting and blankets are being distributed to the most vulnerable. UNHCR supplies are being taken from stockpiles in Beirut, Sidon and Tyre and continue to arrive in Lebanon by air, sea and road.

Although 90 percent of the displaced returned within days of the August 14 ceasefire, many Lebanese have been unable to move back into their homes and have been staying with family or in shelters, while a few thousand have remained in Syria.

Since the crisis began in mid-July, UNHCR has moved 1,553 tons of supplies into Syria and Lebanon for the victims of the fighting. That has included nearly 15,000 tents, 154,510 blankets, 53,633 mattresses and 13,474 kitchen sets. The refugee agency has imported five trucks and 15 more are en route.

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Lebanese Returnees Receive Aid

Lebanese Stream Home After Ceasefire

Tens of thousands of displaced Lebanese have been streaming back to their homes from locations inside Lebanon and Syria since a ceasefire started on Monday. UNHCR teams monitoring the roads leading to the worst affected areas of Lebanon expect the huge numbers of returnees to continue in the coming days.

UNHCR teams have been monitoring the borders around the clock at the four border points from Syria and assisting returnees. They are distributing return packs of water, high-energy biscuits, wet towels and rehydration salts. They are also identifying vulnerable cases who require additional help. Convoys for refugees who are without transportation or who cannot afford transport home are being organized by the refugee agency.

Inside Lebanon, UNHCR teams have set up distribution points alongside roads to distribute assistance such as plastic sheeting, mattresses, water and other supplies to returnees. The full extent of the aid that will be needed will not be clear until a thorough assessment is carried out in the worst-affected areas.

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Nansen Award Announcement 2008Play video

Nansen Award Announcement 2008

The UN refugee agency has announced the winner of the 2008 Nansen Refugee Award. The prestigious award goes to Chris Clark, the head of the UN Mine Action Coordination Centre in southern Lebanon, and his team of international and Lebanese mine clearers.
Nansen Refugee Award: Deminers Clear The Way Home In LebanonPlay video

Nansen Refugee Award: Deminers Clear The Way Home In Lebanon

The 2008 Nansen Refugee Award recognizes the heroic work of Lebanese and international deminers in clearing southern Lebanon of tens of thousands of cluster munitions and allowing uprooted civilians to return home.