A human rights lawyer who fought to end the "phantom" status of stateless people in Kyrgyzstan was on Wednesday named the winner of the UN refugee agency's prestigious Nansen Award.
The UNHCR hailed Azizbek Ashurov for helping Kyrgyzstan become the world's first country to end statelessness, working through his organisation Ferghana Valley Lawyers Without Borders (FVLWB).
He and his organisation have helped more than 10,000 people gain Kyrgyz nationality after they became stateless following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the agency said.
"I am full of emotions," Ashurov told journalists in Geneva, where the prize was announced.
"As millions of people all around the world live with the terrible effects of statelessness, the lesson they can take from our work in Kyrgyzstan is clear," he said.
"We can end statelessness. It is possible."
"They lived like phantoms among us. Officially they did not exist."
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