Douglas Booth

Iraq. UNHCR Supporter Douglas Booth in Hasansham IDP camp for Iraqis fleeing Mosul

About Douglas

British actor Douglas Booth has been supporting UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, since 2015.

Douglas has highlighted the work of UNHCR in extensive media interviews and consistently helps shine a spotlight on the global refugee crisis via his social media channels. Douglas has supported key UNHCR fundraising events and campaigns including World Refugee Day, the #iBelong campaign to end statelessness, and the Nansen Refugee Award and has featured in several film projects including 'Words Matter' and 'What They Took With Them'.

In 2018, Douglas spoke on behalf of UNHCR at the OneYoungWorld Summit on the important role young people can play in advocating on refugee issues. Ahead of the first ever Global Refugee Forum Douglas highlighted the positive story of refugee activist, trainee pilot and UNHCR Supporter Maya Ghazal who is determined to the first female Syrian refugee pilot.

Field visits

2018 visit to Italy and Greece

For World Refugee Day 2018, Douglas travelled to Sicily, Italy, with UNHCR to meet with survivors of the treacherous Mediterranean Sea crossing as well as families resettled through safe and legal pathways. Whilst there, he sat on the judging panel of an uplifting and inspiring refugee talent competition held in Catania’s main square. Previously, Douglas had travelled with UNHCR to the Greek island of Lesvos to meet refugees who made the perilous journey across the Aegean to seek safety in Europe.

Douglas Booth meets refugees at the Moria screening centre on the Greek Island of Lesvos.

Douglas Booth is shown round the Moria screening centre on the Greek Island of Lesvos by a UNHCR staff member.

Douglas Booth is shown round the Moria screening centre on the Greek Island of Lesvos.

Douglas Booth meets refugees at the Moria screening centre on the Greek Island of Lesvos.

Douglas Booth meets refugees in PIKPA village, Lesvos, which provides safe accommodation and a welcoming environment for particularly vulnerable refugees, including women who have lost their children during the crossing, and adults and children with physical disabilities. PIKPA village is a former summer camp, transformed in 2012 into a refugee haven by volunteers with support from the local authorities. It is community-run, and one of its founders, Efi Latsoudi, is one of the joint 2016 winners of UNHCR's Nansen Refugee Award.

Douglas Booth on mission with UNHCR on the Greek island of Lesvos. Across the stretch of water behind Douglas - the Agean Sea - lies Turkey. Many refugees have taken this perilous route when attempting to reach Greece.

Reflecting on his time in Lesvos, Douglas said:

“There seems to be so much confusion amongst us about the difference between economic migrants, asylum seekers and refugees. Populist views would have us believe that boat-loads of people are invading Europe with the sole purpose of taking our jobs, exploiting our welfare systems, and making money. I’m concerned that it’s an opinion born out of misunderstanding and fear-mongering and it isn’t a fair reflection of the reality.

The fact is that the vast majority of people crossing the Mediterranean and Aegean are escaping persecution and conflict. They are refugees. The people I met on the island of Lesvos – who had arrived on overcrowded, barely sea-worthy boats only a few hours before - had no option but to flee their homes. It wasn’t a choice for them – stay and likely die, or leave behind everything they have ever known and loved in order to survive.

No one chooses to be a refugee. No one hopes for conflict to find them, for friends and family to die, for their home to be destroyed, their education and plans for their future to be interrupted so brutally. No one wants to flee their country, scrabble together enough money from their life savings, selling possessions, borrowing from anywhere they can, to pay unscrupulous smugglers to abuse and exploit them and send them across troubled waters where thousands before them have drowned making the very same high risk journey.

The people I met have endured terrible suffering, loss, heartbreak and fear. They look to Europe for protection. They look to Europe for safety. Yet they are too often met by prejudice, ill-will, hostility, intolerance and anger. I urge people to take some time – even just 5 minutes – to look beyond the headlines and get to know one of the millions of people around the world who have been forced to flee their home. Read or watch a short film of a refugee story here, talk to a refugee in your community. Take time to understand where these people – people just like you and me - have come from, the horrors they have escaped, the journey they have undertaken, the life they have to rebuild from scratch, the hopes they have for the future. I know, like me, you will recognize yourself and your family in them, and understand that refugees are not ‘other’ – they are ordinary people going through an extraordinary hardship.”

2016 visit to Iraq

In 2016, Douglas visited our frontline work in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. In newly built camps he met with Iraqi families who had recently been forced to flee Mosul. In Erbil, he met Syrian refugees and heard about the challenges of trying to survive and thrive in a new country having lost everything because of the conflict in Syria. Douglas posted photos and stories from his time in Iraq on Instagram, and also spoke about his experiences on various media and digital platforms, including the BBC.

He reflected on his experiences via the UNHCR Instagram account. See the images and captions from Douglas' posts:

Iraq. UNHCR Supporter Douglas Booth in Hasansham IDP camp for Iraqis fleeing Mosul

"Abdallah is the same age as me. He is Iraqi and he escaped Mosul with his family 15 days ago. After 2 years of living under the rule of extremists he was visibly relieved and excited to be free from their control. He told me of the frustration of not being able to complete his education, of being forced to grow a beard and wear particular clothes, of beatings and worse for people that were caught disobeying the new rules, of periods of lost hope and times when life seemed meaningless. But he also told me of beautiful moments of defiance. He married a girl from his village, he trimmed his beard for the ceremony and the family celebrated behind black-out blinds at home, secretly playing banned music."

"Hussein is head of a family that is in a state of deep, raw grief. The night they planned to escape Mosul – just a week ago - a mortar hit their home killing the youngest of his three daughters. Her name was Saja. She died of her injuries in her mother's arms. Hussein, her sisters and her brother, Ali, looking on. Ali told me that "Saja was so incredibly smart, she had so many dreams, she had so much that she wanted to achieve. She had collected together all of her academic awards and certificates, her bags were packed, she was ready to leave, we were being liberated. And she didn't make it. When you see your sister die in front of you it is the worst thing that can ever happen to you"

"Meet Amar. A wonderful man with a beautiful, smiling family. He was hopeful about the future of Iraq – hopeful that the country will find peace - hopeful that Iraqis will build a safe and comfortable future for their children. He says that Iraq is full of good people. Full of kind people. He said the Iraq he wants to get back to is one where Christians and Muslims and Kurds and all religions and ethnicities live together, eat together, laugh together."

"A mountain of mattresses. When families fleeing Mosul first arrive in camps UNHCR provides them with the 'core relief items' they need to survive: a tent, mattresses, blankets, a cooking stove, jerry cans for water, kitchen and hygiene kits. When you have lost everything in the frenzy and chaos of fleeing you need to start again with the very basics. Dignity sometimes comes in the smallest and simplest of packages – a bar of soap, a tooth brush and tooth paste to feel clean again, shelter for privacy and protection from the elements, the facilities to make a meal for your family."

"I think I was hit hardest by the story of this family. Not because their story was so far removed from the stories of loss and struggle of so many others but because they seemed to have lost all hope. They are exhausted, they are worn down, they are close to being defeated by the daily fight for survival. Khaled, the father, has cancer and is unable to work so it falls to the two eldest boys, Mahmoud (15) and Waleed (13) to provide for the family. The boys work 12 hours a day, 7 days a week carrying and delivering heavy goods and stock at the local souk. There is no time for school, no time for playing with friends, no time for anything other than work and sleep. Mahmoud said "the war has stolen everything from me – my mind, my dreams, my hopes for a normal life". Despite receiving limited cash assistance from UNHCR they are barely covering their expenses and debt is mounting with their father's medical bills. Yathrib, their mother, told me with tear-filled eyes that her children have been robbed of their childhood and that she feels that she has failed them as a mother. She hasn't of course. She has kept the family together and she is doing the very best that she can in impossibly hard circumstances that are well beyond her control."

"Abu Mohammad & family (part 1) - 8 year old Abdel Rahman shows me the scars from injuries and burns he suffered when a car bomb exploded outside his home in Syria one night two years ago. The family rushed Abdel Rahman to hospital on foot and from there they fled to Turkey for urgent medical treatment. They never returned home."

"Abu Mohammad & family (part 2) - The night the car bomb exploded outside their home severely injuring Abdel Rahman, his younger sister, Aziza, was left behind in the chaos and mayhem and shock of fleeing. By the time the family realised Aziza was missing they couldn't go back because the fighting had closed off the routes home. For two years the family had no news of Aziza. They had assumed the worst. Then, 2 months ago, they had a phonecall from a neighbour back in Syria saying that Aziza was alive. This is Gulistan, Aziza's identical twin sister, holding a recent photo of Aziza. The family is now anxious to be reunited with her but the process seems far from straightforward. UNHCR is providing support and legal assistance and I desperately hope that soon the family will be complete again and living together in safety in Erbil."

"There are over 225,000 Syrian refugees in Iraq and a further 3.2 million Iraqis who have been forced to flee their homes because of conflict. The economic and security situation across the country is extremely challenging. Despite hearing stories of extreme hardship, sorrow, loss, grief and frustration I left Iraq with some hope, amazed by the generosity, kindness, compassion, tolerance and welcome from different ethnic Iraqis towards Syrians and towards each other. I have been so impressed by the work and staff of UNHCR in supporting and protecting families who, through no fault of their own, are having to start their lives again from scratch. I have been reminded that there is no action too small to make a collective, positive difference and that we can all do more."