Mahira Khan appointed UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador for Pakistan
"Proud to be born to a motherland that has opened its arms to refugees for over 40 years," said the actor.
In a message on World Refugee Day, actor Mahira Khan recalled her interactions with Afghan refugees in Pakistan and how they reshaped her understanding of safety.
Khan, who is a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) goodwill ambassador, urged people to remember that “When one family finds safety, we all share in a more hopeful future.”
The star, while undertaking her duties with the UNHCR, said she had met Afghan refugees “who were forced to leave their homes and rebuild their lives from nothing”.
Seeking asylum is “not an abstract idea”, she said. “It is the moment everything changes for a family.”
She said there were refugee parents she had interacted with who were “working every day to give their children a future” and young people “determined to continue their education”.
Despite losing everything, she said, refugee families continued to hold onto hope.
The actor said she had “seen resilience in places where life has been incredibly hard” and how “safety can change what tomorrow looks like”.
Khan was appointed UNHCR’s Goodwill Ambassador to Pakistan in 2019, when she said she was proud to have come from a country that had a long history of hosting refugees.
She joins a handful of Pakistani celebrities who serve as goodwill ambassadors for different UN organs; Saba Qamar works with the UN agency for children while Shehzad Roy works with the Office on Drugs and Crime. Fawad Khan is the goodwill ambassador for the UN Development Programme and Hania Aamir recently joined the list last October with UN Women.
Afghan refugees who sought asylum in Iran and Pakistan have been returning to Afghanistan. According to figures from the UNHCR, over 5.5 million refugees had returned between October 2023 and February 2026.