Cate Blanchett urges EU to treat asylum crisis with ‘humanity’

Actress Cate Blanchett, a goodwill ambassador for the U.N.’s refugee agency (UNHCR), on Wednesday called on the European Union to focus on protecting displaced refugees while rejecting “dangerous myths” about migration.

“I am not denying that this is complex,” Blanchett said, while addressing the European Parliament. “But this is the European Union. And addressing the challenges of forced displacement and mixed movements requires unity, international cooperation, resources and patient, compassionate work.”

Earlier this week, UNHCR called for “an immediate humanitarian cease-fire” in Gaza, where conflict “has claimed and is still claiming thousands of innocent lives,” Blanchett said. War has been raging in the region since Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel on October 7, killing 1,400 and triggering a deadly retaliation from Israel, which in turned has killed more than 10,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.

But this is “far from the only violence afflicting our world,” Blanchett observed.

There are currently 114 million forcibly displaced people in the world today — fleeing war and persecution — a number, according to the actress, “so huge that it is difficult to grasp.”

Blanchett, who has been an ambassador for UNHCR since 2016, urged the EU to challenge “dangerous” myths about migration that stoke “far too much fear and hostility” — such as that all refugees are headed to Europe.

She also condemned “harmful policies of externalization,” under which asylum responsibilities are defered to other countries, as well as policies that fortify borders rather than protect migrants. Instead, she said, the EU should work to uphold the 1951 U.N. Refugee Convention, continue to support humanitarian work and find sustainable solutions to mass displacement.

“We need to come together to put people, to put our humanity back at the center and the heart of asylum,” Blanchett said.