International Desk: Following the wake of this year’s World Refugee Day, in a time where the world greatly feels the strain of a deadly pandemic, actor and goodwill ambassador for the U.N. refugee agency, Cate Blanchett, put forward her concerns for the ongoing refugee crisis.

With the annual event taking place on June 20, paying homage to the refugees who have been compelled to leave their dispute ridden lands, she provided how it was doing so in a time of “change and reflection”, according to a Reuters report.

Being the UNHCR goodwill ambassador, Cate mentioned how in the light of the pandemic we’ve been ‘forced to confront’ the uncertainty of the situation, reflecting back to how a majority of refugees who have been uprooted from their homelands have to live with said uncertainty ‘year in, year out,’ she added in the Reuters interview.

Photo credit : REUTERS

In these trying times, with conflicts continuing even during Covid, UNHCR’s assistant high commissioner for protection, Gillian Triggs brought light upon their endeavors in providing the refugees with all amenities including an access to education, work, and most importantly, to cope with current times, ‘access to health and to vaccines,’

The wake of the problems relating to the refugee crisis doubling to 84.2 million by 2020, as per the UNHCR report, the actor stated, "These numbers are not going away, but the numbers are so great that we can often forget about the human face,"

"I think that World Refugee Day couldn't come at a better time because we can really think about how we can collectively build a stronger and safer and more humane world and that being inclusive is a superhuman power." She added.

Photo credit : UNHCR

While in her UNHCR role, Cate has travelled to Bangladesh (amongst crisis ridden countries like Lebanon and Jordan), addressing the UN Security Council on the Rohingya refugee crisis.

Sunnews/NT