Angelina Jolie is most definitely not just a pretty face. The American actress, who is acclaimed as one of the most beautiful women in the world, is also a compassionate and committed UNCHR Goodwill Ambassador, says Geraldine Royds

 

 

For the last 7 years, Angelina Jolie has been travelling to remote and desolate regions throughout the world, promoting humanitarian causes.  Noted for her work with refugees through UNHCR, she has worked with field staff in refugee camps in Darfur, Sierra Leone, Pakistan, Cambodia and Tanzania amongst others.  She is known to cover all of her costs while on missions, and shares the same basic working and living conditions as her fellow relief workers.

‘We cannot close ourselves off to information and ignore the fact that millions of people are out there are suffering. I honestly want to help. I don't believe I feel differently from other people. I think we all want justice and equality, a chance for a life with meaning. All of us would like to believe that if we were in a bad situation someone would help us,’ explains Jolie. 

Angelina Jolie first became interested in human rights while filming Tomb Raider in poverty-stricken Cambodia. She turned to UNHCR for more information and then agreed to visit some refugee camps to learn more about conditions. In 2001, she visited Sierra Leone and Tanzania and was shocked at what she saw.  In this video interview with National Geographic she talks about her first field visit to a camp in Sierra Leone and the value of each human life.

Impressed by her interest, the UN refugee agency asked her to become a UNHCR  Goodwill Ambassador in 2001, her responsibilities including ‘advocating for the protection of refugees on five continents.’  Agency spokespersons talk of her impressive record of personal commitment and praise her eloquence and untiring support for the refugee cause.

Using her international stardom to draw attention to global emergencies, Angelina spends a great deal of time visiting refugee camps and speaking to the men, women and children she is working to help.

‘It's a simple equation - when funding runs out, food rations are cut. Refugee operations are under-supported by the international community and refugees are not a popular cause with private donors either. So sometimes refugees have to go without essentials like enough food, clean water, shelter from the elements, not to even mention things like healthcare and education. Part of my job as goodwill ambassador is to draw attention to the many hidden refugee emergencies, and human tragedies that you will not find in the headlines,’ explains Jolie.

Angelina's commitment has pushed her to speak out about root causes. She has urged governments to do more to help refugees and has become more involved on a political level.

‘As much as I would love to never have to visit Washington, that's the way to move the ball,’ she explains.

She regularly attends World Refugee Day in Washington, D.C., and she was an invited speaker at the World Economic Forum in 2005 and 2006. Jolie has also frequently lobbied U.S. senators and congressmen on legislation and education related to refugee rights.

‘The biggest problem could be the hostility, negative stereotyping, misperception and in some cases, downright racism faced by refugees. The mistaken negative perceptions about refugees often result in a cascade of concrete problems for them including anti-refugee legislation, abuse of refugees' human rights, severe drops in donations for refugee operations, and even brutal behaviour toward them,’ Jolie says.

As one U.N. commentator remarked, Angelina Jolie is celebrity advocacy at its most effective, most intelligent and most sincere.

Jolie is also noted for her charitable contributions through the Jolie Pitt Foundation, the charity she founded with her husband Brad Pitt. 

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