As the Research Center for Asylum and Migration (IGAM), the winners of the IGAM 2021 Awards which we give to local and foreign individuals or organizations whose works touch and improve the lives of people under temporary and international protection have been announced. The winners were announced by the IGAM President Metin Çorabatır at the press conference which was held on the 12th of June 2021.
Dr. Zakira Hekmat, President of the Afghan Refugees Solidarity Association (ARSA), won the award given on behalf of Angela Burdett-Coutts. The Refugees and Asylum Seekers Aid and Solidarity Association won the other award which was given on behalf of Talat Miras.
Our award given on behalf of Talat Miras, who was selected as one of the two co-chairs of the United Nations Conference on the Status of Refugees and Stateless People where the final version of the Convention on the Status of Refugees was discussed, written, and accepted on 25th of July 1951 was given to individuals or institutions that come to the forefront with their work on refugees.
Our award given on behalf of Angela Burdett-Coutts, who founded the Turkish Compassion Foundation to protect Muslim women and children who were persecuted in the Turkish Russian War in 1877 is given for foreign persons living in Turkey and also holding International Protection status in Turkey.
In the award process, 72 people and organizations applied. The jury consisted of 9 independent people and after the documenting, reviewing, and interviewing process, they evaluated each candidate over 5 points. They also did not vote on candidates they knew personally. The Jury evaluated the candidates by focusing on how many people’s lives were touched, how the lives of refugees were affected, whether their work was sustainable or not, and whether the creativity and awareness-raising work was carried out.
WHO ARE THE WINNERS?
The Refugees and Asylum Seekers Aid and Solidarity Association – 2021 Talat Miras Award Winner
The Refugees and Asylum Seekers Aid and Solidarity Association established in 2014 to seek solutions to the problems of people who were in the need of international protection. They have been working since 2014, trying to provide benefits to immigrants and refugees who have left their country by offering a holistic service model.
The Refugees and Asylum Seekers Aid and Solidarity Association carries its activities without making any discrimination based on language, religion, race, gender, age, disability, and political opinion differences. It works in cooperation with the private sector, non-governmental organizations, and political institutions to support the refugees in terms of their needs, problems, or their rapid integration with society. Refugee Association, with its short name, offers application areas through their centers in addition to counseling and guidance activities.
The Refugees and Asylum Seekers Aid and Solidarity Association which has been supporting immigrants and refugees who have needs since 2014 with its staff composed of different nationalities, monitors the needs of refugees, does the measurement, and evaluates the procedures by their established SUKOM data system.
ZAKİRA HEKMAT – 2021 Angela Burdett-Coutts Award Winner
Dr. Zakira Hekmat, the President of the Afghan Refugees Solidarity Association (ARSA), was born in Afghanistan in 1985 and later came to Turkey. After graduating from Kayseri Erciyes University Faculty of Medicine, she started working in Kayseri as a doctor. She works as the responsible physician in the Strengthened Migrant Health Center of Kayseri State Hospital.
She has been an active advocate for migration and refugees for many years and she has also taken an active part in some of the works that will especially address the problems of refugees, protect their rights, and she even led them. Dr. Hekmat established the Afghan Refugees Solidarity and Assistance Association in 2014 and started to work systematically in the fields of protection and adaptation. Dr. Hekmat organizes a considerable number of social cohesion activities voluntarily but also organizes some adaptation activities for local people and for the refugees professionally. Thanks to her association, a network of 370 refugee volunteers in 58 cities of Turkey has been established.
Dr. Hekmat has given many speeches at conferences, at home, abroad, and also given interviews on TV or on the radio for refugees and immigrants especially for the Afghans who are currently in Turkey. She was awarded the “Young Leaders Award” by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) Foundation in 2007 and the “Peace Ambassador of the Year” by the USA-based organization called HasNa in 2020. Dr. Hekmat is now successfully working as a “senior expert” in an international project about forced migration supported by the German Science Support Society (DFG).
