Maltese lawyer wins UNHCR award

Lawyer Katrine Camilleri has won the prestigious UNHCR Nansen Refugee Award, whose previous winners include Eleanor Roosevelt, Médecins Sans Frontières and Queen Juliana of the Netherlands. The annual award is given to individuals or organisations that distinguish themselves in work on behalf of refugees.

It includes a $100,000 grant from Norway and Switzerland for a refugee-related project of the winner's choice.

It was given to Ms Camilleri "in recognition of her exceptional dedication to the refugee cause and her outstanding contribution through Jesuit Refugee Service in the protection and assistance to refugees".

The UNHCR said Dr Camilleri, 37, has demonstrated her dedication to helping refugees not only in a decade of work with the JRS but in a determination to continue in the face of threats that included an arson attack on her car and home.

"The committee notes with appreciation the tireless efforts of Dr Camilleri to lobby and advocate for refugees and is impressed by the political courage she has shown in dealing with the refugee situation in Malta."

António Guterres, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said: "Dr Camilleri and JRS are key partners in helping UNHCR to fulfil our goal of assisting governments to identify refugees caught in migratory movements and responding to their needs."

Dr Camilleri told The Times yesterday the award was a great honour for all the staff at the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) and was totally unexpected.

"This award is a tribute to JRS workers worldwide who often do tough, unrewarding and even dangerous work to serve and accompany displaced people most in need.

"Were it not for them, and the staff of similar organisations, many refugees would not get access to crucial legal services, would languish in detention or worse would have been returned home to face persecution.

"Our work is very difficult and not always popular. The award is a form of recognition for what people like us do with refugees. I hope it serves to draw attention to the suffering detention causes to thousands of innocent people here and elsewhere and that it generates a real search for alternatives that respect people's dignity and rights," she said.

JRS director Fr Paul Pace said when contacted that the award was a great honour for Dr Camilleri and JRS. "The award has given recognition to Dr Camilleri's and JRS's work."

Fr Pace hoped the award would result in more attention being paid to the plight of migrants in the Mediterranean and in Malta.

Dr Camilleri plans to use the money from the award to expand the legal service provided by the JRS.

"Asylum seekers in detention remain almost totally isolated and face huge difficulties in obtaining information and accessing basic services, including social work and legal assistance.

"It is also very difficult for asylum seekers to obtain access to justice to seek redress for violations suffered, as it is often both legally and practically impossible for them to obtain legal aid or to pay legal and court fees."

The project will seek to address this gap in the system, Dr Camilleri said.

A mother of two, Dr Camilleri joined the JRS legal office in 1997, first as a volunteer, then part-time and later full-time.

She leads the JRS Malta legal team of two lawyers and two case workers, which - apart from handling asylum claims - challenges detention in individual cases and monitors the treatment of those in the centres.

Conscious of the need for more lawyers trained in refugee law, she helped set up a study unit for law students at the university of Malta.

Over the last year, JRS and Dr Camilleri have faced a series of attacks. Nine vehicles belonging to the Jesuits were burned in two separate attacks. Last April, arsonists set fire to Dr Camilleri's car and the front door of her house, terrifying her family.

The award will be presented next month. It was named after Norwegian Arctic explorer Fridtjof Nansen, who in 1921 was appointed by the League of Nations as the first High Commissioner for Refugees.