Cate Blanchett marks a decade of advocacy on behalf of refugees
Cate Blanchett marks a decade of advocacy on behalf of refugees
UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Cate Blanchett meets young Syrian refugees at a workshop in Jordan's Zaatari refugee camp in April 2023.
This month marks 10 years since Cate Blanchett was appointed as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, serving as a tireless advocate for millions of refugees and others displaced by conflict and persecution and helping to bring their stories to a global audience.
During her decade of work with UNHCR, the double-Oscar-winning actor and producer has met with refugees and displaced people in Jordan, Bangladesh, Lebanon, Niger, South Sudan and Brazil. Their experiences of fleeing war, violence and climate disasters, and their determination to rebuild and return home, continue to inspire and fuel her advocacy.
“Meeting refugees around the world and being entrusted with their personal stories of loss, hope, survival and success is a huge privilege, and the highlight of my work with UNHCR,” Blanchett said. “My commitment to them is the same today as it was a decade ago: to do what I can to ensure that their stories are heard, so that no one can say: ‘we didn’t know’.”
Blanchett uses her global platform to draw attention to refugee issues and advocate for their support, whether in media interviews, through the Blue Ribbon initiative at major awards ceremonies, or last year, when she gifted Pope Leo a Made51 bracelet made by refugee artisans.
Much of her work necessarily happens behind the scenes, where she has helped to raise significant funds through private meetings with political leaders, business CEOs and philanthropists, informed by her on-the-ground observations and longstanding engagement with the issues.
But Blanchett has also made many high-profile interventions on behalf of refugees and UNHCR. In 2018, she addressed the UN Security Council in New York after meeting with Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, and in 2023, she delivered a speech to the European Parliament making a plea for humane asylum policies. Later that year, she opened the second Global Refugee Forum in Geneva.
Blanchett addresses the UN Security Council in New York on the Rohingya emergency in August 2018.
It was there, alongside fellow UNHCR supporters Ke Huy Quan, Echo Quan, Ayman Tamer, Koji Yanai, and Isaac Kwaku Fokuo, that Blanchett developed the idea for the Displacement Film Fund (DFF) to help spotlight displacement issues within her own industry.
The award-winning DFF champions and supports the work of displaced filmmakers and others telling authentic stories of displacement, and will announce its next cohort of grant recipients at the Cannes Film Festival later this month.
A decade into her ambassadorship, Blanchett remains one of the most passionate, visible and committed advocates for the world’s forcibly displaced people, ensuring the urgency of the refugee crisis continues to reach decision-makers, donors and the global public.
