The ceremony
The ceremony
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2024 UNHCR Nansen Refugee Award
The event brought together State delegations, private-sector leaders, UN and international organization representatives, non-governmental organizations and refugee-led organizations to celebrate the exemplary work of the Global Laureate and the four Regional Winners.
The programme showcased the winners’ achievements and featured live artistic performances.
All too often, women face heightened risks of discrimination and violence, especially when forced to flee, but these five winners show how women are also playing a critical role in the humanitarian response and in finding solutions.
Lous and the Yakuza, a Belgian-Rwandan-Congolese artist celebrated for her unique musical style, performs live onstage at the 2023 UNHCR Nansen Refugee Award ceremony.
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About the 2024 ceremony
The ceremony featured an acceptance speech by the global laureate, Sister Rosita Milesi, as well as appearances by the regional winners and performances by Moldovan opera singer Valentina Nafornița, British singer and songwriter Emeli Sandé, and US actress Kat Graham.
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Nomzamo Mbatha
South African actress, TV personality and humanitarian Nomzamo Mbatha is best known for her roles in the South African series Isibaya and the American movies Coming 2 America and Assassin.
Nomzamo served as a LuQuLuQu high-profile supporter for several years and became a Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR in 2019, visiting refugee camps in Malawi and South Sudan. She also travelled to Kenya, where she spoke at TEDxKakumaCamp, the first-ever TEDx event to be hosted in a refugee camp.
Newly appointed UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Kat Graham visiting refugees in Melkadida camp, Ethiopia, in July 2019.
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Kat Graham
US actress and Goodwill Ambassador Kat Graham has been supporting UNHCR since 2013. A committed champion for displaced people, Kat has travelled to meet refugees in Ethiopia, Mexico, Jordan and Hungary and uses her platform to shine a light on the stories of refugee women and girls. She was recently named as a TIME 100 Next Generation Leader for 2024 for her advocacy on behalf of refugees.
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Valentina Nafornița
Valentina Nafornița is a Moldovan opera singer and humanitarian who has grown into one of the most in-demand European sopranos of her generation, winning Singer of the World in 2011. She has appeared at the Vienna State Opera, Opéra national de Paris, and the State Operas of Hamburg, Berlin and Munich. Her first album, Romance, was released in 2020 to critical acclaim.
Valentina became a UNHCR high-profile supporter in 2023, and on World Refugee Day this year, she sang in a recital organized in partnership with the UNHCR Representation to the European Institutions in Strasbourg and the Permanent Representation of Lithuania to the Council of Europe.
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Emeli Sandé
British singer-songwriter Emeli Sandé’s debut album ‘Our Version of Events’ sold over 5.4 million copies to date. It was the biggest-selling album in the UK in 2012 and 2013 and was certified platinum seven times in the UK and Ireland. Emeli followed with the critically acclaimed ‘Long Live The Angels’ in 2016, ‘Kingdom Coming’ EP in 2017 and ‘Real Life’ in 2019. With 19 million singles sold including 3 x UK No.1 singles, 6 million albums and four BRIT awards (including Best Female twice), Emeli received an MBE for Services to Music in 2018 and in July 2019, she became the University of Sunderland’s Chancellor.
Emeli Sandé is an internationally acclaimed artist and highly sought-after writer with strong values. She uses her profile with moral purpose to support important campaigns. Her powerful stance on social justice is evident through her songwriting and is the driving force in her career.
Since 1954, more than 60 individuals, groups or organizations have received the Award for their extraordinary service to refugees, displaced and stateless people.
