Bridgerton actor: Refugees are just you and me in different circumstances

By Aine Fox, AP social affairs correspondent

Politicians who use refugees as scapegoats or footballs need to be reminded that they are people who need empathy and compassion, said Bridgerton actor Adjoa Andoh.

Famous for recently starring as Lady Danbury in the hit Netflix series, the actor lends his voice to a short film made to highlight the plight of people displaced from their homes due to conflict or persecution .

Andoh, whose journalist father had to flee Ghana in the 1950s for a new life in the UK, spoke out as part of Refugee Week.

She told the PA news agency it is important to remember that anyone could become a refugee if circumstances changed.

She said: Refugees are just you and me, in different circumstances.

If we can do something to make their lives easier, if we can talk to our politicians and remind them, when they use refugees as political scapegoats, or as footballs, or as a means to gain power, that They are people like us, they need our attention, our empathy, our compassion.

The film, made by the charity Migrant Help, challenges viewers to imagine the experience of having to leave their home within 60 seconds, showing a family hastily packing their belongings, including medicines and precious photographs .

Andoh recounted lyrics written by Anglo-Somali poet Momtaza Mehri, asking: How much of your life could you carry on your back? In just a few seconds, your house slips through your fingers. No time to say goodbye.

The actor described it as an honor to lend my voice in support of refugees and displaced people around the world, adding: I know so many friends who came from all over the world because their parents had to flee and they grew up . in this country.

During Bridgerton's recent promotion in Poland, which coincided with the D-Day anniversary, Andoh said he met Ukrainian refugees and was reminded how fleeting safety can be.

She said people need to think about asylum and refugee policies, as well as how people arriving in the UK are treated.

She told PA: We need to think about practical ways in which we can support them (refugees), that we can express our voice to the call to see the human being in front of you, to think about their situation, to think about those. babies cross the dangerous waters of the seas with their parents because where they come from, it's too scary to stay in this place.

Think about how we welcome them, how we can talk to them, think about our asylum policies, our refugee policies and how we treat displaced people.

The United Nations Refugee Agency, UNHCR, said that around 117.3 million people worldwide have been forcibly displaced due to persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations man and events having seriously disrupted public order at the end of 2023.

The agency said its estimates predict that by the end of April 2024, that figure will likely have exceeded 120 million.

Caroline O'Connor, chief executive of Migrant Help, said: “Refugee Week is an important opportunity to pause and reflect on the world's displaced people; those whose very reality mirrors the family in our film, suddenly having to leave their homes within minutes, often never to return.

We hope the film will inspire British audiences to remember that there are real people behind the many statistics and headlines about refugees, with stories, hopes and dreams like ours.

No one chooses where they are born, nor the struggles or conflicts into which they are born. No one chooses to be a refugee. They deserve hope and understanding from all of us.

Immigration, both legal and illegal, was a talking point during the general election campaign, and the phrase “stop the boats” was central to Rishi Sunak's leadership.

Under pressure from the conservative right on this issue, the conservatives have promised a relentless process of deporting people to Rwanda until the end of the Channel crossings.

Their platform does not go as far as saying the UK could leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), despite calls from some on the party's right, including the former Home Secretary Suella Braverman.

Meanwhile, Labor has promised to scrap the multi-million pound plan to send migrants to Rwanda and use the money to fund a new border security command.

If elected, he has pledged to launch the unit with hundreds of new specialist investigators, promising to use its counter-terrorism powers to root out criminal boat gangs in a bid to curb Channel crossings.

The Labor Party has affirmed its commitment to international legal conventions, with its manifesto saying: Britain will unequivocally remain a member of the European Convention on Human Rights.