Paris/Cologne, 23 August 2022 (dpa/MIA) — Former German chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday was awarded the 2022 UNESCO Peace Prize for "her efforts to welcome refugees." "All the members of the jury were touched by her courageous decision in 2015 to welcome more than 1.2 million refugees, notably from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Eritrea. This is the legacy she leaves," jury president and 2018 Nobel Peace Prize winner Denis Mukwege said. The director general of the UN cultural organization, Audrey Azoulay, also praised Merkel, saying her win serves as a reminder "that the way in which we treat migrants and refugees is a critical issue." The honour, which is officially called Félix Houphouët-Boigny-UNESCO Peace Prize, is named after the former president of Ivory Coast. It has been awarded each year since 1989 to individuals, organizations or institutions that have made a special effort to promote, research or secure peace. [caption id="attachment_1462080" align="alignnone" width="1024"] FILED - 07 June 2022, Berlin: Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel responds to a question from journalist and author Alexander Osang at the Berliner Ensemble. Photo: Fabian Sommer/dpa[/caption] It has not yet been decided when the prize will be handed over to Merkel, who left politics last year after serving four terms as chancellor. In the summer of 2015, as refugees were streaming into Europe, Merkel opened her country's borders and famously declared to Germans "Wir schaffen das" - "We can do this." She eventually pulled back on her pro-immigration stance as support eroded among the public and within her own conservative party. [caption id="attachment_1462081" align="alignnone" width="1024"] 09 August 2022, North Rhine-Westphalia, Cologne: A picture made available on 12 August 2022 shows Angela poses for a picture while carrying her school bag. The 6-year-old Syrian girl, named after former Chancellor Angela Merkel, had her first day of school on Friday, while shortly before she started school, she received an autographed card with a personal note from her namesake. Photo: Christoph Reichwein/dpa[/caption] Meanwhile, a 6-year-old Syrian girl named Angela after the former German chancellor recently started school in the western city of Cologne. Ahead of her first school day, she received an autographed card with a personal note from her namesake. Her father Ezzat says they named their daughter Angela out of gratitude for Merkel's refugee policy at the height of the exodus from the war-torn Middle Eastern country. Her parents fled to Germany in 2015 as part of that wave of refugees. "She helped a lot of people. She helped us," he said. Friends who have been accompanying the Syrian family as volunteers for several years made contact with Merkel's office, which confirmed that the card had been sent. Angela already knows how to write her first name, and hopes to learn the rest of the alphabet at her new school.