Tuesday 2nd October, 2018
Presenting the award
in Geneva, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi
(Xinhua) – The UN refugee agency UNHCR on Monday honoured Dr. Evan Atar Adaha,
a surgeon from South Sudan, with the 2018 Nansen Refugee Award at a ceremony in
Geneva, for his 20-year commitment in providing medical services to people forced
to flee conflict and persecution in Sudan and South Sudan.
Presenting the award
in Geneva, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said that most of
Atar’s patients were refugees and he had lived through displacement himself,
after fighting forced him to close his first hospital in Kurmuk, Sudan.
“He embodied not
only solidarity, but courageous solidarity with his refugee patients, which is
very scarce in today’s world,” Grandi noted.
According to the
UNHCR, Dr. Atar is based in Bunj, in north eastern South Sudan, where he runs
the only functional hospital, serving more than 200,000 people, including
144,000 refugees from Sudan’s Blue Nile State.
His team at Maban
Hospital carries out an average of 58 operations per week in difficult conditions
with limited supplies and equipment.
In his acceptance
speech, Dr. Atar said he was humble to receive the prestigious award but added:
“However, this award is not for me as an individual. The award is for my
team back in Maban.”
He said his message to
the world was: “Let us continue tirelessly, sparing no effort, in the
search for peace.”
UNHCR’s Nansen Refugee
Award recognizes extraordinary humanitarian work on behalf of refugees,
internally displaced or stateless people.
GNA