NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

Waikato Times, Volume 123, Issue 20693, 31 December 1938, Page 9

NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

SERVICES RECOGNISED INTERNATIONAL REFUGEE WORK HONOUR FOR NANSEN OFFICE (From a Correspondent) GENEVA, December 2 The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded this year to the Nansen International Office for Refugees at Geneva. This prize, which amounts to about £BOOO, is awarded each year to individuals or bodies of people in recognition of some signal work on behalf of peace. The Nobel Committee of the Norwegian Parliament, in awarding this year’s prize to the Nansen International Office, has paid a tribute to the important work which this office has done in the interests of peace among peoples. The Secretary-General of the League issued a statement to the Norwegian Press on the occasion of this award, in which he said that it was “a weildeserved expression of appreciation of the great effort made by the Nansen Office to solve one of the most tragic problems of the post-war world.” The Nansen International Office for Refugees has been presided over since January, 1936, by a distinguished Norwegian citizen, Judge Michael Ilansson. It is an autonomous organisation which was set up under the League of Nations in 1930 in order to carry on and complete, as rapidly as possible, the work initiated by Dr. Fridtjof Nansen as League High Commissioner for Refugees. Dr. Nansen, who was already worldfamous as a Polar explorer, began his humanitarian work in 1920 by effecting the exchange of prisoners of war of 26 nationalities who were left stranded in Russia and Siberia at the end of the world war. At a time when the whole world had practically given up all hope of saving these unfortunate people Nansen managed in a few months to repatriate them to their respective countries. His action also saved from famine, and even death, millions of Russians. Armenians, Turks and Greeks In 1921 Dr. Nansen was charged with the protection of the refugees who had to leave Russia during and , after the revolution, and who then numbered a million and a-half. Following this, he directed his efforts towards saving the Armenians threatened with deportation, of whom 350,000 have been settled in Greece, Bulgaria and other countries. After the defeat of the Turkish armies in Asia Minor 1,300,000 Greek and Bulgarian refugees had to be transferred to their respective countries in exchange for the 300.000 Turks who were transferred from Greece to Turkey. Dr. Nansen died in 1930, and the one person in the world most deeply concerned with the lot of refugees was lost to their service. It was at this time that the Nansen Office was set up by the League of Nations to continue * Dr. Nansen’s humanitarian work. While the number of refugees had decreased considerably during his lifetime, it was believed in 1930 that there still remained a million refugees to be settled—Russian, Armenian, Syrian and others. In 1935 the Nansen Office was called upon to look after the Saarlanders who we n e obliged to leave the territory following the plebiscite.

The Nansen Office has continued the humanitarian side of Dr. Nansen’s work, more particularly by the collection of information regarding the material and moral condition of those concerned and by assisting them in finding employment or opportunities for settlement. The president of the governing body of the Nansen Office is appointed by the Assembly of the League of Nations, which receives the annual reports on the activities of the office. The administrative expenses of the office have been borne by the League of Nations. In addition, the office is empowered to receive funds from private sources to be applied for the relief and assistance of refugees. To Be Liquidated The governing body of the Nansen International Office is to liquidate this office at the end of this year, in accordance with a decision adopted eight years ago. The refugees for whom they have been responsible and whose future they have no't yet been able to ensure will, from the beginning of 1939. apply to the new League High Commissioner for Refugees, who was appointed at the last meeting of the Assembly in September. The governing body of the Nansen Office will be free to donate any surplus funds that may be left to them after they have wound up their office to the League’s High Commissioner or to any of the existing volnntnrv organisations dealing with refugees. Judge Han<son delivered a radio broadcast on the occasion of the award of the Nobel Prize tn the Nansen Office., in which he drew attention to the tragic situation of refugees and the difficult problems, political and economic. which lay across tite path of' the organisations concerned with their fate.