After two decades Angelina Jolie steps down as UN’s global ‘Princess of Hope’
Angelina Jolie returned to Pakistan earlier this year after floods had devastated large parts of the country. Photo: AFP/FILE
After spending nearly two decades, Angelina Jolie has decided to step down as a special envoy of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
Jolie, who had started first working for UNHCR in 2001 and was appointed as a special envoy to the agency in 2012 had used her privilege and powerful voice to build awareness and support for refugees and to call for urgent action and solutions for people forced to flee.
“I am grateful for the privilege and opportunity I have had to work with so many outstanding and dedicated UNHCR field officers and other colleagues doing lifesaving work globally, and to serve as Special Envoy,” Jolie said in a statement.
“I will continue to do everything in my power in the years to come to support refugees and other displaced people.”
UNHCR thanked Jolie in the statement for her work with the agency.
“Angelina Jolie has been an important humanitarian partner of UNHCR for very long. We are grateful for her decades of service, her commitment, and the difference she has made for refugees and people forced to flee. After a long and successful time with UNHCR, I appreciate her desire to shift her engagement and support her decision,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said.
Jolie to continue advocacy for refugees
The 47-year-old actress said she will continue to work with and advocate for refugees, but that after 20-plus years in the UN system, she feels it is time to work directly with refugees and local organizations and support their efforts to find solutions.
According to the UNHCR website, Jolie carried out over 60 field missions for UNHCR as special envoy and recently, she traveled to Yemen and Burkina Faso to meet with displaced people.
Earlier this year, Jolie returned to Pakistan in the wake of devastating floods and made a global appeal to help Islamabad tackle the situation.
It followed a similar visit over a decade ago when, after devastation caused by floods, caused her to issue another global appeal for help.
Her work in Pakistan together with the UN earned her the moniker ‘Princess of Hope’ as she called out a wind chiseled structure in Balochistan along the Makran Coastal Highway.
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