Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie Honoured

UN Refugee Agency Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie Honoured by UNA-USA

New York, Oct 12 2005 2:00PM

Angelina Jolie, the acclaimed actress and Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), has been honoured for her devotion to the cause by the UN Association of the United States (UNA-USA).

“I’m very privileged to be a very small part of the UN,” said Ms. Jolie as she accepted UNA-USA’s 2005 Global Humanitarian Action Award at a ceremony in New York on Tuesday evening.

“I’ve had the honour of working with an amazing mix of very hardworking – and often very tired – people of all nationalities, with one common goal: to help other people,” she said, adding, “That’s the UN at its best, and it’s amazing.”

Ms. Jolie has travelled to refugee camps in more than 20 countries, including Pakistan, Kosovo, Sierra Leone and Chad. She has personally donated millions of dollars to relief programmes designed to alleviate the plight of people around the world who have been forced to flee their homes.

“Second to my children, spending time with refugees has been the greatest privilege,” she told the assembled crowd. “There can be no greater undertaking than making sure our children live in a world of tolerance and greater understanding.”

Also addressing participants was General Assembly President Jan Eliasson of Sweden, who said the recent South Asian earthquake, landslides in Guatemala and the wreckage of Hurricane Katrina in the United States demonstrated the importance of international solidarity.

“There has never been a better reminder that we all share the same fate, and that to face disasters we have to work together,” he said. “If we can do that with a combination of passion and compassion, then we are on the right track.”

ENDS

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