'Never say never': Angelina Jolie won't rule out running for public office in the future after 20 years of providing humanitarian aid with United Nations
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- Published on Thursday, 04 April 2019 11:25
- Written by Daily Mail
Actor, filmmaker and humanitarian Angelina Jolie is not ruling out running for public office.'Never say never,' Jolie, 43, told People. '[But ] right now I am looking to others for leadership.' The United Nations Special Envoy didn't mention what kind of role might appeal to her, but talked about the issues she's focused on right now, like women's empowerment and a proposal for a permanent international body to investigate war crimes. The long-time member of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees has spent much of her free time focusing on international human rights over the past two decades. Recently, Jolie has urged nations to deploy more women peacekeepers in order to prevent sexual violence against refugees. 'If you look across the world, there are far too many women and girls who are not only not seeing progress, their rights are slipping away from them,' she said. 'We have to change laws that treat women as second-class citizens.' In addition to working to change laws around the world, Jolie is also fighting to ensure those laws are enforced. 'One of the things we are putting forward now is a proposal for a permanent international body to investigate war crimes, including mass rape and other sexual and gender-based violence,' she said.This is a goal Jolie has been working on since 2012, when she set up the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative (PSVI) with former British foreign secretary William Hague.'There is now a lot more awareness and discussion and many more countries have made commitments,' Jolie said.'For example, 156 countries have pledged not to include amnesties for rape when they are negotiating peace agreements. It is hard to believe, but peace treaties routinely grant immunity to people who’ve carried out the most disgusting violent crimes against civilians. So we have to make sure all those countries live up to that commitment.Since breaking up with Brad Pitt more than two years ago, Jolie is focused on their six children and her work. Her oldest, Maddox, enters college in the fall.She wrapped up her first starring movie role in four years in 'Maleficent: Mistress of Evil.' It's due out in October.Her full interview appears in People's April 15 issue.
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source : Daily Mail 
Angelina Jolie is all smiles as she arrives at UN to give keynote address at United Nations Peacekeeping Ministerial meeting in New York City
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- Published on Sunday, 07 April 2019 15:43
- Written by Daily mail
Angelina Jolie was all smiles as she made her way to the United Nations Peacekeeping Ministerial meeting in New York City on Friday. The humanitarian arrived at the United Nations Headquarters in Manhattan to speak on the role women play as influential peacemakers.Jolie wore a white blouse along with a high-waited black skirt. She accompanied the look with a sand-colored trench coat.As she arrived, the actress greeted the Assistant-Secretary General for Africa Bintou Keit and posed for photos with Lieutenant Commander Marcia Andrade Braga, United Nations Military Gender Advocate of the Year.The A-List actress and UN special envoy for refugees delivered the keynote address at a conference to raise support for UN peacekeeping missions at a time when the United States is seeking major budget cuts to the blue helmet operations.'I'm a patriot. I love my country and I want to see it thrive,' Jolie told the gathering at the General Assembly.'I also believe in an America that is part of an international community.' 'Countries working together on equal footing is how we reduce the risk of conflict. It is how we avoid the need to send men and women of our militaries to fight and sacrifice overseas.'The United Nations was set up to find ways of resolving differences peacefully and 'it is all in our interest for the UN to be made effective, brought closer to the lives of citizens, and not ever misused,' she added.Jolie's praise for the United Nations stood in contrast with the disdain US President Donald Trump's administration has shown the world body.Trump has cut US funding to the United Nations and his national security adviser John Bolton, a former UN ambassador, once remarked that if the UN's 38-floor building 'lost 10 stories, it wouldn't make a bit of difference.'Jolie, who has traveled to refugee camps worldwide, said that peacekeeping missions 'often represent the last and only hope for millions of people facing daily threats to their safety and their basic rights.'The award-winning actress made an appeal for increasing the number of women peacekeepers in UN missions.Jolie was appointed to Special Envoy in April 2012 following years of service in working with mass population displacement.
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source : Daily mail
Angelina Jolie Gets Support from Sophie, Countess of Wessex in Fight to Prevent Sexual Violence
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- Published on Friday, 15 March 2019 06:26
- Written by People
Angelina Jolie is getting royal help in fighting against sexual abuse.Countess Sophie Wessex announced on Thursday that she would be joining Jolie and support her Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI), which was set up by the activist and actress along with former British foreign secretary William Hague in 2012.Wessex, who married Queen Elizabeth‘s youngest son Prince Edward in 1999, made the announcement the day before International Women’s Day.“Against a backdrop of ugly headlines for women, revelations of sexual exploitation, and the abuse suffered by those in war zones, it is easy to overlook the pioneering work of change-makers,” Wessex, 54, wrote for British outlet the Telegraphthis link opens in a new tab. “Brave women that stand for progress, even when their physical security and basic aspirations are under threat. Only when women and men work alongside each other as equals will the world see sustained improvement in conflict resolution and a reduction in sexual violence in conflict.”Jolie, 43, has been a vocal supporter of fighting against sexual violence in war since starting PSVI, and most recently spoke at a film festival put on by the initiative in London in Nov. 2018. Wessex was also in attendance.Jolie described the crime as “an urgent international issue,” adding that “changing attitudes and laws, and challenging stigma and impunity for sexual violence in all our societies is the work of generations. It’s all of you, it’s all of us together.”The festival featured 35 movies focusing on the discrimination and social stigma faced by survivors of warzone rape and other forms of sexual violence in conflict. The filmmakers came from 14 different countries including Syria, Burma, Russia and Nigeria.“I can only imagine the kind of difficulties that many of you have faced to get to this point in your lives,” Jolie said warmly to the filmmakers gathered at the British Film Institute.
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source : People 
Angelina Jolie visits Rohingya camp in Bangladesh to prepare for United Nations appeal for $1 BILLION in aid
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- Published on Wednesday, 06 February 2019 04:21
- Written by Daily mail
Hollywood superstar Angelina Jolie visited a Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh on Monday ahead of a new UN appeal for nearly $1 billion dollars to look after the refugee influx.After arriving in the South Asian nation, Jolie, a special envoy of the UN Refugee agency UNHCR, went straight to a camp in Teknaf near the Myanmar border to talk to some of the 720,000 Muslims who fled a military clampdown in the neighboring state in August 2017.The 43-year-old made no immediate public comment, but Cox's Bazar district deputy police chief Ikbal Hossain told AFP that Jolie will be visiting more camps on Tuesday.The Maleficent star was all smiles while getting off the plane, wearing a white button-up shirt under a flowing black coat and black pants while wearing sunglasses and carrying a brown bag.She was later spotted in all black ensemble, with a black wrap over her head, with a black shirt, black pants and black boots.While this is the actress' first visit to Bangladesh, she had previously met with Rohingya refugees during a 2015 visit to Myanmar and again in 2006 during a visit to India.Jolie is in Bangladesh to assess the humanitarian needs of the one million Rohingya in camps around the town of Cox's Bazar.She has previously met with displaced Rohingya while in Myanmar in July 2015 and in India in 2006.Bangladesh has been reeling since more than 730,000 Rohingya arrived from Myanmar after August 2017. More than 620,000 of the Muslims live in the Kutupalong camp, the world's largest refugee settlement.There were already about 300,000 in the camps before the exodus which has strained Bangladesh's resources to the limit.
Jolie will conclude her visit by meeting Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen, and other senior officials in Dhaka, a UNHCR statement said.The talks will focus on how the UNHCR can help Bangladesh's efforts for the Rohingya and the need for "sustainable solutions" to settle the persecuted minority, the statement added.The UN is to soon launch a new international appeal for $920 million to meet the needs of Rohingya refugees and the communities hosting them, the refugee agency said.'(Jolie) will definitely have a message to take back from here. We hope that the humanitarian community understands the kind of crisis the Rohingya are in through her,' said Refugee, Relief and Repatriation Commission (RRRC) commissioner Abul Kalam.Jolie will be visiting refugee camps over the next three days, while also visiting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen. Jolie hasn't starred in a live-action movie since 2015's By the Sea, which she starred in alongside then-husband Brad Pitt, which she also directed.She also directed 2017's First They Killed My Father, and she'll make her return to acting in 2020 with Maleficent 2, reprising her title role from the 2014 blockbuster.Jolie also has The One And Only Ivan and Come Away in post-production, and she is also attached to star in Those Who Wish Me Dead for writer-director Taylor Sheridan (Wind River).
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source : Daily mail 
Angelina Jolie praises UK's role in tacking sexual violence in warzones during London film festival enabling survivors to tell their stories
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- Published on Monday, 26 November 2018 03:52
- Written by Daily mail
American actress Angelina Jolie has spoken out against sexual violence in global war zones during a Government film event in London.Held at the British Film Institute, 38 movies and documentaries are being shown as part of a festival enabling survivors to tell their stories.The United Nations envoy spoke at the event, which aims to tackle rape and sexual violence in conflict zones.Jolie welcomed the work of the festival, which was attended Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt.She said: 'I want to thank the British Government for hosting this festival and for recognising the power of storytelling as a tool to enhance empathy and understanding. 'I welcome what it says, that the Foreign Office is supporting art and artists, putting the issue of sexual violence in conflict forward as an urgent international issue, allowing the voices of that set the agenda to be those of the survivors themselves.' Art highlighting the horrors of sexual violence in conflicts across the world was displayed in addition to the screenings.The event included the unveiling of a code to set the standard for evidence-gathering for investigating sexual violence in war zones and was backed by Lord Tariq Ahmad of Wimbledon, who is the UK Government's special representative on such violence.Hunt tweeted about the event, writing: 'With @Refugees envoy Angelina Jolie at #PSVI film festival to discuss new Murad Code, named after Nobel Peace Prize laureate @NadiaMuradBasee.'Code will set standard for gathering evidence of sexual violence in conflicts. There must be justice for survivors!' The code is named after Nadia Murad, a Yazidi human rights activist who was kidnapped at the hands of Islamic State.
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source : Daily Mail
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