Birth of the Nansen Passport

On this day, the League of Nations signed an “Arrangement with regard to the issue of certificates of identity to Russian refugees”. The result of the arrangement was the birth of the Stateless Persons Passport, proposed by the League of Nation’s High Commissioner, Fridtjof Nansen, and commonly known as the “Nansen Passport”. The end of World War I had led to a refugee crisis which had been particularly exacerbated by the new government of the Soviet Union revoking the citizenship of Russians living abroad, including some 800,000 refugees from the Russian Civil War. The Nansen Passports were internationally recognised refugee travel documents and by 1942, they were honoured by the governments of 52 countries. When Nansen won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1922 for his humanitarian work, he donated the prize money to international relief efforts.

Author: Tony

Born and raised in Malaysia between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. Educated at Wycliffe College in Stonehouse, Gloucestershire, England. Living in the foothills of Mount Etna since 1982 and teaching English at Catania University since 1987. View all posts by Tony