Finland awards first male Refugee of the Year

The Finnish Refugee Council conferred "Refugees of the Year" awards to a Rwandan woman and a Kurdish man on Thursday, Finnish national broadcaster Yle reported.

This was the first time the council granted the prizes to both a woman and a man, said Yle. The Refugee Woman of the Year prize has been awarded by the council since 1998.

The male recipient was Ali Giray from Turkey. He came to Finland in the early 1990s as a teenager through the family reunification program.

After completing a Bachelor of Business Administration degree, Giray set up a restaurant in Joensuu, western Finland. Currently, he also runs an interpretation center. His businesses employ hundreds of people including immigrants and native Finns.

This year's "Refugee Woman of the Year" went to Rita Kostama, who fled Rwandan and came to Finland as a refugee in 1998.

She earned a business degree in Finland and founded a small accounting firm. She also works at a grocery store in Jarvenpaa, northern Finland.

Kostama takes part in international activities of the local Lutheran parish and works as a volunteer for the Finnish Refugee Council.

Giray and Kostama were selected as "Refugees of the Year" because they had been actively involved in the Finnish society, explained the Finnish Refugee Council.

As an associate of the United Nations refugee agency in Finland, the Finnish Refugee Council has been a specialist in international refugee work for more than 50 years. The purpose of the awards is to raise awareness in Finland about refugees who have successfully integrated into society. Endit