June 20 marked the 15th annual World Refugee Day, established in December of 2000 by the United Nations General Assembly and dedicated to raising awareness of the plight of present-day refugees. 

The world is currently facing the greatest migration and humanitarian crisis since World War II: according to UNHCR statistics, 65.3 million people, or one in every 113, were displaced from their homes by conflict and persecution in 2015. Every minute, 24 more people are forced to leave. Almost 41 million of them remain within the confines of their own countries, while 21.3 million have fled abroad.

Recent BBC research shows that more than a million people have come to Europe, most of them seeking political asylum. Thousands more have died on the dangerous journey. 

Every state has a duty to protect its citizens, but in some circumstances it cannot guarantee physical safety and ensure that the basic rights of individuals are respected. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights grants everyone has the right to asylum and refuge.

The Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees defines a refugee as a person who "owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it." Since its foundation in 1950, the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), also known as United Nation Refugee Agency, has been the global establishment entrusted with protecting refugees. 

The man-made tragedies of the 20th century resulted in the displacement of millions of people. The creation of the League of Nations in 1919 was aimed at ensuring world peace; the organization became the blueprint for today's United Nations. 

At the height of its operations from September 28, 1934 to February 23, 1935, the league had 58 member states.

Among all of their representatives, one man stood out: the delegate from Norway Fridtjof Nansen. 

This great explorer, scientist, diplomat and humanitarian took personal responsibility for refugees and tried to alleviate their plight: in 1922, as High Commissioner for Refugees for the League of Nations, he headed the Intergovernmental Conference on Identity Certificates for Russian refugees who had been forced to flee their country after the civil war. 

In the aftermath of World War I, stateless people and refugees needed documents to travel, but were often unable to procure them from their home countries. The 1922 conference paved the way for the creation of a new document, the famous Nansen Passport – a certificate of identity that served as a replacement for a state passport and allowed holders the right to enter and transit through different countries. The first Nansen Passports were granted to Russian refugees, but soon thereafter they were issued to Armenian refugees fleeing the Genocide of 1915-1923, as well as Turkish and Assyrian refugees. 

In 1922, Nansen received the Nobel Peace Prize for his work. 

Following Nansen's death in 1930 at the age of 68, the Nansen International Office for Refugees was established to ensure that the work of this Norwegian diplomat continued. In 1938, the office received the Nobel Peace Prize for its remarkable humanitarian work. 

Fridtjof Nansen was a pioneer in several fields and left a mark on everything he pursued. He was born in Christiania (now Oslo), Norway, in 1861. From a young age, he was distinguished by his restless energy and multi-faceted personality. In his youth, he was a world champion skier and ice-skater. He studied zoology at the Royal Frederick University (now the University of Oslo) and became a scientist, helping to establish modern theories of neurology. He then switched to oceanography and made many scientific cruises, mainly in the North Atlantic. 

During this period he made a remarkable contribution to the development of modern oceanographic equipment. He led expeditions to the North Pole and left valuable knowledge for those who followed in his path. As a diplomat, he advocated for the separation of Norway and Sweden, starting the negotiations that persuaded Prince Charles of Denmark to accept the throne of the newly independent country. After independence, Nansen became Norway’s ambassador to London and, in 1919, devoted himself to the League of Nations, changing the lives of thousands of people. 

To this day the UNHCR grants the annual Nansen Refugee Award, formerly known as the Nansen Medal, to an individual, group or organization in recognition of outstanding service to the cause of refugees, displaced or stateless people.