Human Rights Center Memorial to receive Nansen Refugee Award

A press conference devoted to the 2004 Nansen Refugee Award will be held at the Independent Press Center on June 17. The report "About the State of Residents of Chechnya in the Russian Federation. June 2003 - May 2004" will be presented by the Migration and Law Network of the Human Rights Center Memorial at the end of the conference.

The Nansen Refugee Award is presented annually to an individual or organization known for considerable achievements for the welfare of refugees. The Russian NGO Human Rights Center Memorial, which helped tens of thousands of refuges and internally displaced persons in the Russian Federation will receive this year's award.

The award will be presented in Barcelona on June 20 to Svetlana Gannushkina, a board member of the Human Rights Center Memorial, head of the Migration and Law Network and a member of the Russian President's Human Rights Commission.

Ella Pamfilova, chairwoman of the Russian President's Human Rights Commission; Oleg Orlov, board chairman of the Human Rights Center Memorial; Svetlana Gannushkina, a board member of the Human Rights Center Memorial, head of the Migration and Law Program and a member of the Russian President's Human Rights Commission; and Vera Soboleva, a spokesperson for the UNHCR office in Russia are expected to be participants in the press conference.