Yemeni aid group shares spotlight with Angelina Jolie at ......UNHCR HQPI00 Tel (41 22) 739 85 02 Communications P.O. Box 2500 Fax (41 22) 739 73 14 Service CH-1211 Geneva 2 Yemeni

UNHCR HQPI00 Tel (41 22) 739 85 02 Communications P.O. Box 2500 Fax (41 22) 739 73 14 Service CH-1211 Geneva 2 www.unhcr.org

Yemeni aid group shares spotlight with Angelina Jolie at UNHCR’s Nansen Refugee Award ceremony in Geneva GENEVA, October 3, 2011 – UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres and

UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie presented the founder of Yemen’s Society

for Humanitarian Solidarity with the 2011 Nansen Refugee Award at a ceremony on

Monday evening in Geneva. The prize – the refugee world’s highest honour – was

awarded to the founder and the 290 staff of SHS, a non-governmental organization, for

their life-saving work in helping thousands of refugees and migrants who arrive on

Yemen’s shores each year.

Guterres spoke of the commitment of SHS staff, who comb the Yemeni coastline year

round, pulling people from the sea and helping them find safety and assistance. “I do

think they deserve the recognition of the international community,” he said.

Jolie added her own praise, highlighting the courage of individual SHS staff: ”The staff of

SHS often risk their own lives to save others — rescuing people from the waves in

rough seas and working in extremely volatile security conditions. Their devotion to

saving refugee lives is extraordinary.”

UNHCR and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) have partnered to make the Nansen

Award Ceremony a televised event to raise global awareness of the challenges refugees

face. NRC Secretary-General Elisabeth Rasmusson said, "The refugee crisis in the

Horn of Africa is one of the largest in the world, and the situation is further

worsened by famine. NRC pays tribute to SHS for its courageous efforts in easing

the plight of Somali refugees".

The ceremony was hosted by former politician and ex-BBC reporter Martin Bell. It also

featured music by Colombian rock star, Juanes, popular Norwegian singer, Sivert Høyem,

and the Somali sister band “Sweet Rush”.

The founder of SHS, Nasser Salim Ali Al-Hamairy, accepted the prize on behalf of his

organization, “We never expected to be awarded with such a prestigious prize, and

we appreciate this recognition of our hard work. This motivates us to increase our efforts towards helping those in need wherever they are.” Al-Hamairy also appealed


to the international community “…to move quickly in addressing the conflict in Somalia and restoring security and stability to ensure that the people can enjoy life

and feel reassured like people in other nations around the world; so they do not feel

compelled to take such great risks on the high seas.” More than 120 people have lost

their lives trying to reach Yemen so far this year.

SHS was founded in 1995 by Al-Hamairy as increasing numbers of Somali refugees fled

war-torn Somalia by boat across the Gulf of Aden. Recognizing there were virtually no

local resources to come to the rescue, the founder says he was motivated to form a

humanitarian aid group to assist both refugees and the local community. UNHCR has

been supporting the work of SHS since 1999.

The continuing violence in Somalia, compounded by a crippling drought, has driven over

18,000 Somali refugees to flee to Yemen so far this year. That is more than double the

number from last year, according to UNHCR statistics.

The Nansen Refugee Award ceremony also paid tribute to Jolie’s 10 years as a UNHCR

Goodwill Ambassador and her strong advocacy for the rights of refugees and other

forcibly displaced people around the world.

“Now I know she is the very best of the Goodwill Ambassador’s in the humanitarian

world,” High Commissioner Guterres said.

Jolie was named UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador on 23 August, 2001 and has since

conducted more than 40 field visits to some of the most remote refugee-hosting regions of

the world.

Guterres presented her with a special gold pin, much like those reserved for longstanding

UNHCR staff.

On receiving the pin, the Oscar-winning actress said: “I’m so grateful to the many refugee families that I have had the honour and privilege to spend the last years

with. From them I’ve learned so much; I’ve learned to become a better person, a

better mother. They’ve inspired me by showing me every day the unbreakable

strength of the human spirit.”


“It is an honour to work on behalf of refugees and I look forward to the next ten

years”Isaid Jolie

2011 is the 150th anniversary of Nansen’s birth and a special year for the award. The

Nansen Refugee Award was created in 1954 in honour of Fridtjof Nansen, Norwegian

explorer, scientist, diplomat and politician as well as the first League of Nations High

Commissioner for Refugees, appointed in 1921. The prize is given annually to an

individual or organization for outstanding work on behalf of refugees. It consists of a

commemorative medal and a US$100,000 prize donated by the governments of

Switzerland and Norway. The winner can donate the funds to a cause of their choice

related to helping forcibly displaced people.

Media materials Video footage and photographs from the ceremony, an interview with Martin Bell and

Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie and interviews with Juanes and other artists will be

available immediately after the ceremony at:

http://www.unhcr.org/nansenawardceremony2011

For more information from UNHCR, contact:

Babar Baloch +41795579106 [email protected],

Sybella Wilkes +41795579138 [email protected]

Susannah Lovatt +41795579146 [email protected].

For more information from NRC, contact:

Erik Giercksky +47 996 47 455,

Rolf A. Vestvik, +47 488 93 313,

Gunhild Forselv +47 971 25 709

Note to Editors:

The Nansen Refugee Award ceremony is hosted annually by UNHCR in close cooperation

with its partners, the Norwegian Refugee Council, the Swiss Federal Council, the State


Council of the Republic and Canton of Geneva, the Administrative Council of the City of

Geneva and the Norwegian Government.

In addition, UNHCR would like this year to thank the IKEA Foundation for its generous

support, and also broadcaster Phoenix TV in its capacity as the Nansen Refugee Award

2011 global Chinese broadcast partner.

How to support the Nansen refugee award and the refugee cause Go to www.nansenaward.org.

Norwegian Refugee Council

The Norwegian Refugee Council, or NRC, is an independent, humanitarian organization

with 60 years of experience in protecting refugees and internally displaced people

worldwide. NRC advocates for the rights of the displaced and assists with shelter,

education, emergency food security and distribution, camp management and legal aid.

The Norwegian Refugee Council has 2,800 committed and competent employees involved

in projects on four continents. NRC runs the world’s largest standby roster – NORCAP –

consisting of 850 professionals available for deployment worldwide on 72 hours notice

when a crisis occurs. Learn more at http://www.nrc.no.

The IKEA Foundation

The IKEA Foundation aims to improve opportunities for children and youth in developing

countries by funding holistic, long-term programmes that can create substantial, lasting

change. The Foundation works with strong strategic partners applying innovative

approaches to achieve large-scale results in four fundamental areas of a child’s life – a

home, education, health and family income. Currently-funded programmes benefit an

estimated 100 million children. Learn more at www.ikeafoundation.org.

Phoenix Satellite Television

Phoenix Satellite Television began to broadcast in March 1996 with the philosophy of

“reducing the distance within the global Chinese community and expressing the voice of

Chinese to the world”, and striving to provide Chinese everywhere with high quality

Mandarin Chinese television programming. Through 15 years of hard work, Phoenix has

developed a one-channel station into a multi-channel television broadcaster, with the


Phoenix Chinese Channel, the Phoenix InfoNews Channel, the Phoenix Chinese News

and Entertainment Channel which broadcasts in Europe, the Phoenix American Channel,

the Phoenix Movie Channel and the Phoenix Hong Kong Channel. These six channels

currently have an audience in excess of 250 million viewers worldwide. Phoenix has now

evolved into a multi-dimensional corporate group, with an internet website

(www.ifeng.com), a weekly magazine, an outdoor Mega LED business, and publishing,

radio broadcasting and education projects.

The Group’s Chinese Channel, InfoNews Channel, European Channel, American

Channel, Movie Channel and Hong Kong Channel are carried on AsiaSat-3S, China Sat-

6B, EUROBIRD, Telsat-12, Directv, Echostar, G3-C, SATMEX-6, Bell ExpressVU and

other broadcasting platforms, covering more than 150 countries in the Asia-Pacific region,

Europe, North America, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa.

The Phoenix Satellite Television Corporation Limited was listed on the Growth Enterprise

Market of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in June 2000. On December 5, 2008, the

Phoenix Corporation was transferred to the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock

Exchange.

Documents

Yemeni aid group shares spotlight with Angelina Jolie at ......UNHCR HQPI00 Tel (41 22) 739 85 02 Communications P.O. Box 2500 Fax (41 22) 739 73 14 Service CH-1211 Geneva 2 Yemeni