Angelina Jolie considers new role with UN agency

Angelina Jolie presents the Nansen prize to Yemen's Society for Humanitarian Solidarity and its founder, Nasser Salim Ali Al-Hamairy Reuters

Hollywood star Angelina Jolie says she is thinking about an expanded role with the United Nations refugee agency for which she already serves as goodwill ambassador.

The 36-year-old actress said in Geneva on Tuesday that she and the agency were still studying their options and working out the details, but hadn’t settled on anything because they want to get it right.

Jolie stopped by the UN’s European headquarters to highlight the plight of refugees globally in an address to the agency’s executive committee.

“They are the most vulnerable people in the world, and they are also the most resilient people in the world,” the actress told UN diplomats and officials. “They need our help more than ever.”

Jolie also recalled the killing of UN staff in Afghanistan and Nigeria. “We must demand a great respect for the concepts of independence, impartiality and neutrality in order to ensure the safety and lives of humanitarian workers”.

She said she hoped increasing budget constraints among UN donor nations would not prevent them from continuing to open their wallets to the world’s most vulnerable.

On Monday, Jolie was in Geneva to be recognised for her work and to honour a Yemeni aid group, the Society for Humanitarian Solidarity, at the UNHCR’s annual awards ceremony.