Angelina Jolie to take on new UN refugee role

Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie presents the 2011 Nansen Refugee Award at a ceremony on October 3, 2011 in Geneva, Switzerland.

GENEVA - Angelina Jolie will be taking on a new role in the world's most acute refugee crises, the American actress and United Nations refugee agency UNHCR said on Tuesday.
UNHCR sources told Reuters they expected her to be named Special Representative on the Afghan refugee situation, to help resolve the fate of 2.7 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan and Iran. But a representative for the actress said there was no final agreement.
Jolie, who has served for 10 years as goodwill ambassador for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, and donated $5 million to its aid operations, declined to be specific, telling reporters: "We are looking at a few countries in the world.
"We're hoping to discuss it in the next few weeks but we want to research it properly and do it well," she said after addressing a meeting of UNHCR's Executive Committee in Geneva.
Antonio Guterres, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said Jolie would become "our special envoy mainly for the most dramatic refugee situations that require a lot of advocacy" and help mobilize strong international support.
"We will be asking you to do more and more in this regard," he said.
The UNHCR later issued a statement saying that her expanded role had not yet been finalized. "A number of countries are under consideration and discussions are ongoing with relevant authorities regarding Ms. Jolie's additional role," it said.
The U.S.-based Endeavor Group, which represents Jolie, told Reuters: "There is no agreement. Nothing is final."
"VULNERABLE YET RESILIENT" REFUGEES
The Oscar-winning Jolie said refugees whom she had met during her 40 field missions for UNHCR in hotspots from Pakistan to Kenya were "among the most vulnerable and yet the most resilient people in the world."
"My personal experiences with UNHCR have been moving, sometimes heartbreaking, but always rewarding and unforgettable," she said.
Jolie, who makes her directorial debut with the Bosnian wartime romance film "In the Land of Blood and Honey," due to be released in December, has six children.
On recent UNHCR missions to Malta and Tunisia, she met families who had fled their native Somalia only to be uprooted again by fresh conflict in Libya, she said.
"I tried to imagine what it must have been like for a mother with children. To risk her life at sea trying to get to Europe from North Africa," she said, noting that some smugglers had been known to throw women and children overboard.
During a visit in March to the Afghan village of Qala Gadu, north of Kabul, where girls' schools and teachers remain targets of violence, a girl named Sahira pledged to complete her studies through to the age of 18 if the actress helped build a school.
"It's not hard to say yes, knowing that as an Afghan, her word is her bond. An education is her basic human right and she should not be denied it any longer. Sahira is the future of Afghanistan."
"After decades of displacement and many years of war, we are entering a defining moment for Afghanistan," Jolie added.
The Sept. 20 killing of Burhanuddin Rabbani, Kabul's chief peace negotiator, derailed efforts to forge dialogue with the Taliban to end the 10-year war and raised fears of a widening of Afghanistan's ethnic rifts. 1/8ID:nL3E7KM1J8 3/8
Although millions of Afghans have returned home in the past decade, Pakistan and Iran still host 1.7 million and 1 million Afghan refugees, respectively, according to the agency.
Jolie made a surprise appearance on Monday night at the UNHCR's ceremony to honour a Yemeni aid group credited with rescuing thousands of Somali refugees who arrive in Yemen each year. 1/8ID:nL5E7L33K8 3/8
Miami-based Colombian pop icon Juanes performed his hits "It's Time to Change" and "Camisa Negra" (The Black Shirt). Norway's Sivert Hoyem, vocalist of the rock band Madrugada, sang "Prisoner of the Road," a ballad about fleeing violence.

Angelina Jolie considers new role with UN refuge agency helping 'most vulnerable' in world

GENEVA - Angelina Jolie is negotiating for a promotion at U.N. refugee agency where she now serves as a goodwill ambassador.The actress said she and the agency are still working out the details of a new, expanded role for her in the worldwide refugee crisis.
"We are looking at a few countries in the world," Jolie told reporters. "We're hoping to discuss it in the next few weeks but we want to research it properly."
Among the roles under discussion is special envoy on the refugee crisis affecting Afghans fleeing for Pakistan and Iran, which host 2.7 million Afghan refugees.
Jolie is a globe-trotting goodwill ambassador for the U.N. refugee agency, visiting dozens of countries during her 10 years in the job.
U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres told the agency's executive committee that the world-famous actress could serve as his special envoy "to mobilize strong international support" during particularly dire situations.
Jolie told diplomats Tuesday that her work for them has been "moving, sometimes heartbreaking, but always rewarding, and unforgettable."
She described refugees she has met as "the most vulnerable people in the world, and they are also the most resilient people in the world.
"Refugees are survivors, they are mothers and daughters and fathers and sons, they are all extraordinary people who have a remarkable story that tells of strength in the face of great loss," Jolie said. "They need our help more than ever."