UN Appoints Cate Blanchett as Goodwill Ambassador on Refugee Issues

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) appointed Academy Award-winning Australian actress Cate Blanchett as its global Goodwill Ambassador, a UNHCR press release said.

“I am deeply proud to take on this role,” Blanchett said, as quoted in the press release.

The announcement comes after Blanchett’s mission to Jordan, where she was tasked to witness the ongoing UN humanitarian operations on helping Syrian refugees. According to the press release, during the trip she met Syrian refugee families to hear about their journeys from war-torn Syria and the daily challenges they face.

“We are living through an unprecedented crisis, and there must be shared responsibility worldwide,” the actress said.

According to the press release, Blanchett has been working with the UNHCR for over a year to raise awareness about the forcibly displaced. In 2015, she travelled to Lebanon to meet Syrian refugees as part of her support for a UN humanitarian campaign. She has also reportedly supported the World Refugee Day and represented the UNHCR in discussions on the global refugee crisis at the Women in the World Conference in New Delhi.