Showing that she is more than just a talented actress that slays in the best fashion pieces, Academy award winning actress Cate Blanchett was just announced as the global Goodwill Ambassador to UNHCR, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Blanchett, who recently returned from a mission to Jordan to witness the ongoing humanitarian operation for people displaced by the conflict in Syria said about the appointment, “I am deeply proud to take on this role, there has never been a more crucial time to stand with refugees and show solidarity. We are living through an unprecedented crisis, and there must be shared responsibility worldwide. It feels like we’re at a fork in the road, do we go down the compassionate path or do we go down the path of intolerance? As a mother, I want my children to go down the compassionate path. There’s much more opportunity, there’s much more optimism and there is a solution down that path.”
As the crisis in Syria grows to a global level, Blanchett actually traveled to Lebanon in 2015 to meet Syrian refugees and to hear about the experiences of stateless people as part of her support for UNHCR’s #IBelong Campaign. She has also supported World Refugee Day, UNHCR’s appeal for the Europe refugee crisis, and attended the Women in the World Conference in New Delhi to represent UNHCR.
photo credit: © UNHCR/Jordi Matas
