“Love of mankind is politics in practice”.
“Nothing great and good can be furthered in the world without cooperation”.
“The difficult is what takes a little time; the impossible is what takes a little longer.”
Fridtjof Nansen
The international refugee assistance efforts began formally in August 1921, when the International Committee of the Red Cross called on the League of Nations to assist more than one million Russian refugees displaced by the civil war, many of them threatened by famine. The League reacted by appointing Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen as “High Commissioner on behalf of the League in connection with the problems of Russian refugees in Europe.” At the time, Nansen was already famous for his activities as a scientist, polar explorer, political activist and diplomat.
Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen was born on October 10, 1861, in Kristiania (current Oslo), Norway. Although his family was relatively wealthy, he learned the value of hard work and discipline as a child. In 1888, he obtained a PhD in zoology and, in the same year, he was the first to cross the interior ice of Greenland. He also led a 25-month expedition through the Arctic Ocean, coming closer to the North Pole than anyone before. In 1905, he acted diplomatically in the process of Norwegian independence from Sweden and from 1906 to 1908 he served as ambassador of his country in London. During World War I, he led Norway’s diplomatic efforts to secure food and neutrality in the conflict, working tirelessly for the success of the League of Nations, which he saw as a new hope for humanity.
Nansen served as the first High Commissioner of the League of Nations from 1920 to 1930, with its initial responsibilities extended, covering well as Russian refugees, Greeks, Bulgarians, Armenians and other specific groups. His intelligence, courage and charisma were decisive in gaining support from governments and humanitarian agencies.
With only £ 4,000 given by the League of Nations, Nansen undertook the task of defining the legal status of Russian refugees, organizing their employment in the host countries (working closely with the International Labor Organization and assisting about 60,000 refugees to find employment) and the repatriation of 450,000 prisoners of war in two years, through the first major humanitarian operation of the League.
As for the legal protection of refugees, Nansen noted that one of the major problems faced by the uprooted people was the lack of internationally recognized identification papers attesting to refuge status. Thus, he organized an international conference which resulted in the creation of travel and identity documents for refugees, commonly known as “Nansen passports”, later recognized by more than fifty countries.
When negotiations with the USSR on the repatriation of Russian refugees were frustrated, Nansen took additional measures, providing for a secure legal status for refugees in host countries, the first legal instruments that would later serve as a basis for the 1933 and 1951 Conventions on refugees.
In 1922, Nansen was confronted with another crisis: the exodus of almost two million refugees from the war between Greece and Turkey. He went immediately to the site to coordinate international aid efforts. While in Greece, Nansen emphasized the neutrality of the High Commissioner: despite personally blaming Turkey, he assisted both the Greeks and the Turks, meeting officials from both camps and assisting with the repatriation of hundreds of Greeks and Turks.
Nansen created what would become the basic structure of UNHCR (a commissariat with a High Commissioner in Geneva and local representatives in the host countries). In 1922 his humanitarian work with Russian refugees was rewarded with the Nobel Peace Prize.
After his death in 1930 due to cerebral embolism, the Nansen International Office was responsible for continuing his work, perpetuating Nansen’s courage and compassion as inspiration. Since 1954, UNHCR has awarded the Nansen Refugee Award annually to individuals or groups of people who have provided exceptional services to refugees.
To learn more, Fridtjof Nansen.
Sources:
MNC
Nobel Prize
UNHCR
