Kristin Davis

About Kristin

Internationally renowned actress Kristin Davis has been supporting UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency since 2014, and was announced as a Goodwill Ambassador in April 2017.

Kristin travelled to Bangladesh on United Nations Universal Children's Day 2017 to meet Rohingya refugee families and learn more about UNHCR's emergency response. Calling for global action to provide more life-saving aid for Rohingya refugee children, she said:

“For me, the most shocking part of the Rohingya refugee crisis is the number of children who have had to flee their homes. Over half of the refugees in the camp are children. Some of them have lost one or both parents and they are on their own. These children have faced unimaginable horrors and chaotic violence and then a harrowing journey to safety. They are in need of everything including the very basics of shelter, water and food. I can’t imagine going through what these children and their families have gone through, much less having the strength, resilience and extraordinary bravery these children possess.”

Following her mission to Bangladesh, Kristin travelled to Washington, DC where she spoke about the Rohingya refugee crisis with members of Congress. She shared stories about the plight of Rohingya refugees, highlighted the importance of UNHCR’s response and advocated for continued support from the U.S. government.

In August 2019 Kristin travelled to Kenya and South Africa with UNHCR. Kristin attended a High level women's fundraiser, met with refugee artisans working on the Made 51 project and listened to the refugee women from Dadaab refugee camp. Kristin is passionately outspoken in her support for refugees and supports UNHCR across her social media channels and uses this global platform to highlight refugee issues. Kristin has also written feature pieces for leading international media outlets sharing stories and experiences from the refugees she met and her work with UNHCR.

In 2016 Kristin travelled to Rwanda to meet refugees from Burundi and the Congo. She later met some of the same families following their resettlement in the USA, learning about the new opportunities and challenges they faced in starting their lives anew.

Earlier, in June 2015, Kristin visited Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo with UNHCR, meeting families displaced by conflict and violence. She filmed a TV fundraising appeal that was aired in Asia, Australia and the US. In January 2016 Kristin visited Australia to support UNHCR fundraising activities focusing on programmes to support women victims of sexual violence in Congo.

Uganda. Support to South Sudanese refugees

Kristin Davis meets Fiona

UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Kristin Davis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo with Sister Angelique Namaika, a past Nansen Refugee Award winner.

Kristin Davis in Uganda and DRC

In photos: Kristin Davis visits refugees in Rwanda

In December 2016 UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Kristin Davis travelled to Rwanda to visit refugees from Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Images from the trip, along with some of the stories of the individuals Kristin met, are below:

Rwanda. UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Kristin Davis visits refugees

Kristin joins UNHCR Representative in Rwanda Saber Azam at a press conference in Gihembe refugee camp.

Kristin meets 16-year-old Burundian refugee Pelagie in Mahama refugee camp. She came alone to the camp: her mother had left her and her father died during the Burundian civil war. She was completely vulnerable until UNHCR joined her up with 3 other young girls and a foster carer.

Kristin visits Paysannat school in Mahama refugee camp, where over 20,000 Burundian refugee children (at the time of writing) are being supported in school by the Government of Rwanda and UNHCR. Constructing more than 100 classrooms in the local school near the camp, today this is the largest school in the country, and thanks to the Government policy of integration, refugee children attend classes alongside Rwandan host community children.

Kristin meets Jeannine from the women survivors project at the Mahama refugee camp. She told Kristin she had been raped and had become pregnant and that the baby was born disabled. Since coming to the camp, her husband did not want to support her or the baby and she felt utterly alone. She said 'I wanted to throw myself into the river and I felt no peace. Now I am here with this group, I no longer feel alone and feel these other women have had the same experiences'. UNHCR provides support, counselling, legal information and hospital referrals.

Kristin Davis joins Congolese refugee Catherine to understand her daily life in Gihembe camp. Catherine was waiting for the date to be resettled to the USA, having lived in the camp for 20 years. She was subsequently resettled in January 2017.

Kristin meets baby Eny, 5 months old. Her mother, Beatrice, is a foster carer for 4 unaccompanied girls who came from Burundi to Mahama camp in May 2015.

Kristin meets Marie Therese in Mahama refugee camp. Marie Therese is 72, and has just moved in to her semi-permanent shelter from a tent. She fled Burundi after her husband was murdered and her belongings were stolen. She told Kristin that UNHCR had given her back her dignity, and clothes, and she felt safe after being on the move so long.