Angelina Jolie and the UN refugee agency split after more than two decades.

In a joint statement released on Friday, American actress Angelina Jolie said: “I will continue to do everything in my power over the coming years to assist refugees and other migrants. “. Jolie also added that she felt it was time to “do something different”.

Angelina Jolie first began working with the United Nations refugee agency in 2001 and was appointed its special envoy in 2012.

Meanwhile, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said in her statement: “After a long and successful career with UNHCR, I appreciate her desire to change her commitment and support her decision. I know refugees will always be in her heart and I’m sure she will bring the same passion and care to a broader humanitarian portfolio.”

(Photo: UNHCR/J. Tanner)

In an opinion piece published in The Guardian last month, Jolie alluded to her frustration with the lack of global progress in ending sexual violence in conflict.

”We got together and discussed these terrible things and agreed that they should never happen again. We promise to draw – and keep – that line. But when faced with difficult choices about how to deliver on these promises, we run into the same problems again and again,” she wrote, specifically criticizing the Council members. Security for the United Nations for “abusing their veto power”.

Jolie previously described the United Nations as “imperfect” in a 2017 speech in Geneva, but also defended the international body and said it needed support.

After that, the actress pressed the United Nations to set up an independent and permanent investigative agency to collect and evaluate evidence in cases related to allegations of war crimes, crimes against human rights and other human rights violations. While promoting that effort at United Nations headquarters in 2019, she told the AP that promoting equality for women, fighting injustice and helping refugees are the most important parts of life. myself after having a baby.

“But in many ways, they go hand in hand,” she said.

(Photo: UNHC)

Jolie has been involved in other advocacy efforts, most recently promoting the renewal of the Violence Against Women Act in America.

Jolie began visiting refugee camps in 2001 and was appointed a UNHCR goodwill ambassador that same year. At the time, the then-high commissioner said he hoped the 26-year-old actress could direct young people’s attention to the plight of the refugees.

Last year, Jolie told the Associated Press in Burkina Faso that she was concerned that increasing displacement around the world would cause more instability and that governments had to do something to resolve the conflicts. from the root of the problem.

“Compared to when I started working with UNHCR 20 years ago, it seems that governments have largely abandoned foreign policy… the countries that are least doing the most to support it,” Jolie told the AP. Refugees”.

In response to a request for further comment, a spokesman for the UN agency declined to provide further details beyond saying that UNHCR “has no intention of appointing anyone else in the role of special envoy”.

Source: soha.vn