EWAN McGregor has called for Scots to show “acts of humanity” to refugees after meeting children forced to flee their homes in Iraq.
The actor, currently making Trainspotting 2, travelled to the Debaga camp in the north of the country last week in his role as an ambassador for global charity Unicef. The camp, near to Iraq’s second largest city Mosul, is home to thousands of people displaced by fighting in the region as Iraqi forces try to force Daesh from their borders. The terror group gained control of the two million-strong city, capital of the Nineveh province, when it overran as much as one third of the country two years ago.
Iraqi officials aim to end the occupation before the year is out in an operation expected to involve Kurdish forces and allied militia groups.
However, Unicef has warned the attack could lead to more citizens becoming homeless as they flee the fighting and has called for contingency plans to be put into place.
The charity says 3.6 million children are at serious risk of death, injury, separation from their families, trafficking, torture or being forced into taking up arms.
Visiting the region, McGregor met with families who escaped violence in areas surrounding Mosul, also spending time with Syrian refugees and displaced Iraqi families in camps and communities around Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan.
McGregor, a father of four, said: “One girl I met called Mirna told me how her family slept in a disused, half-constructed shopping mall for over a year. The community donated food, clothes and supplies to her family and really came together to welcome displaced people.
“This act of humanity should be replicated everywhere, especially on our own doorsteps. It’s up to us to tell our friends, our neighbours and our governments that refugees are welcome.”
World leaders will meet in New York next month for two summits on the ongoing refugee crisis.
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