We desperately need positivity, goodwill toward refugees, Ben Stiller says

BEN STILLER, a newly named goodwill ambassador for UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), says a lot more needs to be done to stand in solidarity with, protect and support refugees in the “current climate”.

As Hollywood fights to end family separation at the US border, Stiller took a trip to Guatemala from his “safe, comfortable home in New York”. He wrote about it in a guest column for The Hollywood Reporter.

Stiller travelled with UNHCR over the past few years, visiting refugees in Germany and Jordan and meeting individuals caught up in the global refugee crisis firsthand. Then he was invited to become an official Goodwill Ambassador. “While honoured to be asked to take on such a role, if I was being honest with myself, I was not quite sure what it actually meant. Yes, right now, we desperately need positivity and goodwill toward refugees, especially in our current climate.

“But what would being a Goodwill Ambassador actually mean and how could I make a meaningful difference in a world where there are so many seemingly insurmountable forces affecting millions? I said ‘yes’ to the role, quietly promising myself I would figure it out on the job,” Stiller wrote.

“Spending time with them, it was impossible not to feel connected as fellow humans.”

He urged showbiz members to join him in supporting the cause.