Daily Times

Pakistan’s first-ever United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Goodwill Ambassador Mahira Khan met UN chief during his visit to Pakistan.

António Guterres held a meeting with Mahira Khan and UN Refugee Agency officials on Monday evening.

Later, he took to Twitter to share that it was a pleasure meeting the starlet who feels strongly about speaking up for refugees around the world.

“As we mark 40 years of Pakistan’s solidarity with Afghan refugees, it was a pleasure to meet @Refugees Goodwill Ambassador @TheMahiraKhan .I thank her and all Pakistanis for their extraordinary support,” he wrote.

A Refugee Summit was held in Islamabad to mark 40 years of hosting Afghan refugees in Pakistan. Addressing the summit, UN Chief said that the world must act and deliver for Afghan refugees.

‘As we mark 40 years of Pakistan’s solidarity with Afghan refugees, it was a pleasure to meet @Refugees Goodwill Ambassador @TheMahiraKhan .I thank her and all Pakistanis for their extraordinary support,’ he wrote

The Raees actor had volunteered at the Afghan refugee camps in Karachi and Peshawar for UNHCR.

In December last year, Mahira featured in a UNHCR video along with fellow Goodwill Ambassadors and raised the plight of refugees.

“Pakistan has hosted the refugees for nearly forty years thereby setting an example for the world,” she said.

She was named as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ (UNHCR) Goodwill Ambassador for Pakistan in November 2019.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency with the mandate to protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities and stateless people, and assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement to a third country. UNHCR’s mandate does not apply to Palestinian refugees, who are assisted by UNRWA.

UNHCR was created in 1950, during the aftermaths of World War II. Its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland and it is a member of the United Nations Development Group.

The UNHCR has won two Nobel Peace Prizes, once in 1954 and again in 1981 and a Prince of Asturias Awards for International Cooperation in 1991.