Photojournalism nominee

Kathmandu - the capital of Nepal - is home to hundreds of so-called urban refugees from a number of countries. The refugees come from Myanmar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Congo, Somalia and other countries.

The exact number of refugees in Nepal is uncertain, because Nepal is not a signatory of the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees that ensures the legal status and economic rights of refugees. Nepal has requested that the UNHCR do not recognise additional cases of urban refugees within its borders in an effort to prevent Nepal from becoming a safe haven for illegal immigrants. Many of the urban refugees have ended up in Nepal due to political and religious conflicts in their home countries and
are victims of human trafficking.

Nepal imposes a daily penalty fee of 6 dollars on each illegal refugee, which makes it very difficult for refugees approved for third country resettlement to leave the country.

The urban refugees were my hidden neighbours while in lived in Kathmandu for three years from 2013 to 2016.

Jan Møller Hansen (b. 1964) is a self-taught photographer, who works with visual story telling and social documentary. He has undertaken documentary photography work in Bangladesh, Nepal and South Sudan, where he lived and worked as a senior diplomat, and development/humanitarian aid specialist.

Jan Møller Hansen has won first and second prices for his documentary and photojournalistic work in the International Photographer Awards, La Grande Photography Awards, Fine Art Photography Awards, Monochrome Photography Awards, Neutral Density Photography Awards, Monovisions and other competitions. In 2015, he published the book ”Images of Nepal”, Jagadamba Press, and was recognised as the IPA People Photographer of the Year 2015.

His visual stories and documentary photography work focus on the lives and conditions of poor, marginalised and stigmatised people, living with conflict, displacement, insecurity, injustice, inequality and corruption. All his photography projects share a profound interest in human rights, dignity and the belief that everyone has the right to be recognised as a human being, regardless of social background, family relations, or