Sister Rosita Milesi runs a national network that helps refugees throughout Brazil and has helped shape public policy.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees will present its annual Nansen Medal to a Brazilian monk who has dedicated himself to helping migrants for decades.
The UN refugee agency announced the winner on Wednesday, praising Sister Rosita Milesi for her work as an “advocate, social worker and movement builder” helping displaced and homeless people over 40 years.
Milesi, 79, a member of the Catholic order of Scalabrini nuns, has “personally helped” thousands of people, ensuring they receive legal documents, housing, food, health care, language training and the labor market, UNHCR said in a statement.
“If I take something, I will turn the whole world to make it happen,” said Milesi, the daughter of poor Italian farmers in southern Brazil, who became a nun at the age of 19.
The UNHCR highlighted Milesi’s work as a lawyer, saying it had been “useful” in shaping public policy – particularly Brazil’s 1997 refugee law, which helped advance the rights of refugees.
Milesi played a similar role in Brazil’s 2017 immigration law, bringing together various groups and bringing together lawmakers.
He directs the Scalabrini Order’s Migration and Human Rights Institute and coordinates RedeMIR, a national network of 60 organizations working throughout Brazil to support refugees and migrants.
Milesi was nominated along with four regional winners: Burkinabe activist Maimouna Ba, who helped displaced children return to school, Syrian entrepreneur Jin Davod, whose platform connects disaster survivors and healers, Nada Fadol from Sudan, who mobilized aid for hundreds of refugee families fleeing to Egypt, and Deepti Gurung from Nepal, who campaigned to change Nepal’s citizenship laws after her daughters lost their country.
The Nansen Prize was established in 1954 to honor the Norwegian scholar, scientist, explorer and diplomat Fridtjof Nansen.
Milesi, the second Brazilian to win the award, joins a long list of internationally recognized recipients, including the charity Medecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF) and former German chancellor Angela Merkel.
The awards will be presented in Geneva on October 14. Milesi will receive $100,000 to support work related to his work. Regional winners receive $25,000 each.
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