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UNHCR Supporters
People We Can Count On
Aside from its pool of high-profile Goodwill Ambassadors, UNHCR has a wide range of supporters and collaborators around the world, ranging from royalty and celebrities to students, academics and ordinary members of the public, including some 80,000 monthly donors who contributed more than US$12.6 million to UNHCR in 2008. The agency even works with a cartoon superhero.
The relationship between UNHCR and these supporters is less formal and much more flexible than the arrangement with Goodwill Ambassadors. Many of our offices around the world team up with local celebrities for prolonged campaigns or one-off events.
Best-selling author and former refugee Khaled Hosseini has formed a special link with our office in the United States, which has seen him join World Refugee Day events and travel to his native Afghanistan and to Chad to raise awareness about refugees and returnees.
Fellow American, actor Ben Affleck, directed a short film about uprooted Congolese civilians for UNHCR's "Gimme Shelter" campaign. It was accompanied by the classic Rolling Stones track of the same name, thanks to permission from Sir Mick Jagger and ABCKO Records.
In the world of sports, Chicago Bulls basketball player Luol Deng has been supporting UNHCR's ninemillion.org campaign, which raises funds to provide education and sports activities for millions of young refugees around the world. The lanky star fled his native South Sudan as a child and ended up as a refugee in England.
And in South Korea, UNHCR has joined forces with an immensely popular animated cartoon character - Robot Taekwon V - to spread awareness about the forcibly displaced.
Not all our supporters are international celebrities; but many of our collaborators are well known in particular regions or countries and help to raise awareness and funding in such areas. Some travel to refugee camps and tell of their experiences.
For the most part, our supporters are ordinary citizens: volunteers and students who help arrange activities on World Refugee Day and at other times of the year, teachers, academics who debate and write on refugee issues, prominent former refugees and many others.
