Syrian-Lebanese champion of refugee rights wins Rafto Prize

NORWAY: Syrian-Lebanese economist Rouba Mhaissen won Norway’s Rafto Prize on Thursday for her work defending the rights of Syrian refugees, the Rafto Foundation said.
Mhaissen, 31, is the founder and director of SDAID, an organization that has since 2011 helped Syrians displaced by the war in their country and living as refugees in Lebanon.  “Rouba Mhaissen has contributed locally to improving the lives of people living as refugees in Lebanon in ways that protect their dignity and right to self-determination,” the Rafto Foundation said in a statement.
Lebanon, which has four million inhabitants, says it has welcomed between 1.5 to 2 million Syrians, including one million listed as UN refugees, often living in precarious conditions.
Mhaissen said she was “very happy to see that  Syria  and Syrian refugees still have a place in the international community and are remembered.” “The situation is very dire. Even after eight years, refugees here still do not have access to their basic rights, whether it’s the right to mobility, the right to education, the right to life,”   she told broadcaster TV2.