Serbian rights lawyer wins UN refugee agency award in Europe

By JOVANA GEC
Associated Press

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbian human rights lawyer Nikola Kovacevic is this year’s winner of a prestigious U.N. Refugee Agency award in Europe. The 32-year-old human rights activist says the struggle for the rights of refugees and asylum-seekers has become even more important in the face of mounting anti-migrant sentiment and populism in Europe. Kovacevic is the first person from Serbia and the Balkans to win the UNHCR’s Nansen Refugee Award. The prize is granted annually to people who go to “extraordinary lengths” in helping those who are forcefully displaced or stateless. Kovacevic tells The Associated Press that refugee rights relate to core European values and many international human rights laws were designed to help Europe’s refugees after World War II.