Upon accepting the honor, Sister Maryanne expressed her appreciation of the award “as a small way to saying how much advocacy for refugees and asylum seekers is necessary and valued by the wider community.”

Sister Maryanne, who has been advocating for displaced persons and refugees around the world and in Australia for over 20 years, was taken aback by her award. “I was very surprised … then I went through a series of thoughts and realised it’s actually good news because of the negativity about refugees… It gives you a chance to represent a group of people that a lot of us care about, and if it’s an avenue for putting refugees in a positive light, I’m very happy to do it”, she told the media.

In addition to her current role as Associate Director of the Jesuit Refugee Service Australia, Sister Maryanne is a member of the order of the Sisters of Mercy, and has worked in refugee camps in the Philippines, Vietnamese detention centres in Hong Kong, and has provided humanitarian training and research in the Middle East, Africa, the Balkans, South East Asia and the United Kingdom. As the Pedro Arrupe Tutor at the Refugee Studies Centre (RSC) at Oxford University, she is currently researching the psychosocial effects of climate-induced displacement in the Pacific.

For further information: Ms. Alanna Ryan, ICMC Communications, + 41 22 919 10 36; ryan@icmc.net<.

Press Release: ICMC Governing Committee Member honoured by Queen (290.89 KB)