Angela Merkel to receive UN refugee agency award

The big picture: The UNHCR highlighted Merkel's decision to welcome more than 1.2 million refugees and asylum seekers — primarily from Syria — in 2015 and 2016 and her efforts to expand Germany's resettlement program.

• Merkel's open-door policy won her praise from many quarters but also helped fuel the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).
• The award selection committee said it was recognizing Merkel's "leadership, courage and compassion in ensuring the protection of hundreds of thousands of desperate people," per a press release.
• Merkel will receive the award at a ceremony in Geneva on Oct. 10.

What they're saying: "By helping more than a million refugees to survive and rebuild, Angela Merkel displayed great moral and political courage,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said in the press release.

• “It was true leadership, appealing to our common humanity, standing firm against those who preached fear and discrimination," he added.
• "She showed what can be achieved when politicians take the right course of action and work to find solutions to the world’s challenges rather than simply shift responsibility to others.”