UNHCR Nansen Award winners show compassion for refugees is alive and well

GENEVA - Four extraordinary individuals and a front-line national organization, who have demonstrated inspirational courage and compassion by helping those forced to flee, have won this year’s prestigious Nansen Refugee Award from UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.

Established in 1954, the Nansen Award honours individuals, groups and organizations who go beyond the call of duty to protect refugees, as well as internally displaced and stateless people.

The winners in 2025 include a village chief in Cameroon, who helped integrate 36,000 refugees; the founder of a refugee-run school in Tajikistan; a women's organization in Iraq reaching 105,000 conflict survivors; a business executive in Mexico who helped hire hundreds of refugees; and frontline responders in Ukraine who stay put when others evacuate.

“The Nansen Refugee Award celebrates extraordinary courage and compassion,” said the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi. “This year’s laureates remind us that, even in dark times, compassion remains undimmed. Their unwavering commitment to protecting and uplifting displaced people offers hope and inspiration. They embody the spirit of Nansen – a belief that every person forced to flee, wherever they are, deserves dignity, safety and hope.”

This year’s global laureate, Chief Martin Azia Sodea from Cameroon, is a visionary leader who has touched thousands of lives with his humanity and generosity. When refugees from the Central African Republic fled to their village, the people of Gado-Badzéré did not turn them away. Led by Chief Sodea and his family, they offered the newcomers a chance to rebuild, providing land for shelter and farming. His leadership turned a small village into a symbol of solidarity, built on the belief that those who arrive in distress deserve support and space to breathe.

Chief Sodea has also inspired other traditional leaders to support refugees, helping spark a shift in how refugees are welcomed across the region, and proving that empathy can be a powerful force for change. His message is simple yet profound: “We are all human beings, and we have to take care of each other.”

“We had to start by addressing social needs. It was really this social approach that saved the lives of these people because some were already dying on their journey here. We had to go find them, bring food and rescue them,” he added. “We could not watch our brothers die. There is no distinction between the refugees and the host population. We live together.”

The four regional winners to be honoured this year are:

Pablo Moreno Cadena (Americas), a business leader in Mexico who has become a trailblazer for refugee inclusion in the country. A senior executive at MABE, a major appliance manufacturer, he encouraged the company to actively hire and integrate refugees into its workforce.

Proliska (Europe), a Ukrainian organization providing life-saving aid to more than 3.2 million people, often in the most dangerous and isolated areas. In the aftermath of air strikes and shelling, Proliska is often among the first to respond, ensuring no one is left behind.

Taban Shoresh (Middle East & North Africa) is an aid worker, women's rights activist and founder of The Lotus Flower, a women-led organization that supports conflict survivors in Iraq. A genocide survivor, Taban was inspired by her own experiences to make a real difference in the lives of displaced women and girls in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

Negara Nazari (Asia-Pacific), an Afghan refugee and co-founder of the Ariana Learning Centre in Tajikistan. A former DAFI scholar with a degree in economics, Negara chose a path rooted in compassion and action. Instead of pursuing a corporate career, she decided to build a school for young Afghan refugees who were unable to access education.

Learn more about the four regional winners here.

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

Further information

The Nansen ceremony will be held on 16 December and is open to journalists registered with the Palais des Nations in Geneva. Please inform us if you plan to attend and if you have any AV requests. A recording of the ceremony will be available to broadcasters. For assistance, please contact [email protected].

Multimedia content and B-roll are available here. For questions on video, contact [email protected]. The photo selections below are shared under embargo. These can only be used in relation to UNHCR’s Nansen Refugee Award and must be credited to UNHCR/Photographer Name upon publication, once the embargo lifts:

• Cameroon

• Ukraine

• Mexico

• Tajikistan

• Iraq

To arrange interviews with the winners, please contact: 

• West and Central Africa: Senan Rose Fidelia Bohissou, [email protected], +221 77 569 91 60
• Cameroon: Daena Menezes Da Costa Neto, [email protected]
• Asia-Pacific: Mariko Hall, [email protected], +66 6 300 32028
• Tajikistan: Aiya Siyaz, [email protected], +7 701 221 98 98
• Middle East and North Africa (MENA): Tarik Argaz, [email protected], +962 791 223 095
  Iraq: Lilly Carlisle, [email protected], +964 770 494 6425
• Europe: Eleni Biza, [email protected], +41 78 337 8082
• Ukraine: Viktoriia Tiutiunnyk, [email protected] / Elisabeth Arnsdorf Haslund [email protected], +380 95 239 0072
• Americas: Melanie Gallant, [email protected], +507 6585-2656
• Mexico: Silvia Garduno, [email protected], +52 55 2848 7440
• Global Spokesperson: Babar Baloch, [email protected], +41 79 513 95 49