Angelina Jolie Watch

First let me apologize for the lateness of this post but I had a big charity event this weekend that helped raise money to fight domestic violence. Thank you for understanding.

On to the pics. Angelina Jolie and Maddox left the country last week for the Middle East. We have photos of them arriving at London’s Heathrow Airport and LAX this past Friday. (She wearing gray at Heathrow and black at LAX.)

Angelina visited Iraq and called attention to the plight of their internal refugees.

“I want to come back and find you in a better place and in a different situation. We hope that UNHCR and the government will support you in getting a piece of land. You need help not because you are poor, but because you are the future of Iraq,” she told a family who fled their home because of violence

“The picture in this camp is a rough one but there are also some people that were able to return home to other safer areas,” Jolie said later. “There are some changes. There are returns of displaced people, not a big number but there is progress.”

Angelina also visited soldiers from the 1st Cavalry Division and Multi-National Division-Baghdad at Iraq’s Camp Liberty during her day trip.

“I visited Walter Reed [Army Medical Center] and I was inspired and reminded of all the bravery of all the men and women,” Angie said. “I’m always just honored to spend time with everyone in the military. I was allowed to come, and I’m privileged to be here.”

And Finally, the family grabbed Happy Meals on Sunday for the kids. Fun!

Well we finally know where Angelina and Maddox were headed a few days ago-well Angelina least. (There are rumors that she and Maddox will also attend a children’’s conference in Jordan and I doubt she took Maddox to Iraq.)

Angelina is visited and Iraqi refugee settlement where “20,000 Iraqis live, unable to return to their homes because of sectarian violence.”

This Angelina’s third visit to the war torn region. One she made while pregnant with twins.

Angelina visited the region because support waning for the refugees in the area.

“It is the most critical time,” Jolie told CNN. “I think this will make the difference in the future of Iraq and in the future of a country that is so crucial to our world and our security and this region in the world. It is in the hands of the government to now really step up.”

“It’s for all of us not to feel like ‘Oh, let’s move on.’ There are so many other things that are grabbing our headlines,” she added. “This region of the world, the stability of this region is important to all of us,” she said.

“There are still three million people displaced, innocent families,” Angelina said. “We have still many young men and women from our country who are fighting every day, there are men and women from all countries who have lost their lives, and this is a time to try to make some positive change.”

“The UNHCR has been doing everything it can,” she said. “It’s been building houses. It’s having funding issues. It’s only half-funded this year. It takes six months to be able to build a house.

“So they’re not going to get enough money to be able to build all the houses that they want to build, to be able to facilitate anybody that does want to come home. They’ll be able to do something, but not as much as they could if they were given all the support.”

UNHCR estimates that 1.6 million Iraqis were internally displaced by a wave of sectarian warfare that erupted in February 2006 after the bombing of a mosque in the ancient city of Samarra. Almost 300,000 have returned to their homes amid a general improvement in the security situation since mid-2008.

Since April last year, UNHCR has provided emergency shelter rehabilitation and shelter upgrade to 5,000 families. Close to 20,000 homes will be rehabilitated by the end of this year. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees remain in neighbouring countries, mainly Syria and Jordan.

You can donate to the UNHCR HERE.

Source : CNN
Source: UNHCR

Angelina wasn’t actually able to sit down with CNN’s Anderson Cooper (his plane hit some bad whether) but the two did manage to pull off a satellite interview about the refugee crisis around the world. Angelina has used this week’s activities to focus a spotlight on the international refugee crisis.

Anderson stuck mostly to topic but couldn’t resist asking if she and Brad planned on more kids. (His excuse was that everyone in the office wanted to know. Right Anderson.) Angelina smiled and said, “We love children, we want a big family, so we never - you know, never say no.”

Here’s more of Angelina’s interview:

So many kids so many birthdays:
“I do have the twins, and I just had Shi in May. We have so many kids that we just have year-round birthdays. It’s a lot of fun now ’cause the older kids are old enough to help plan the birthdays for the younger kids. So it’s one of the great pleasures of life, the birthdays.”

How she’s been effected by her meeting with a paralyzed 15-year-old refugee orphan:

“He had this really remarkable, unbreakable spirit, a spirit beyond anything I can imagine.

“He had lost everything and he was just so full of laughter and kindness. He passed away a few months after I was there. And so I always wonder about him and young people that you meet and you just think, in any other situation, if this person had been given a chance, what an extraordinary adult he would have been.”

Angelina works so hard so that refugees around the world can have food shelter and safety. Please visit the UNHCR website to find out what you can do to help.

Today Angelina Jolie, NBC reporter Ann Curry and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres attended the 2009 World Refugee Day Commemoration at the National Geographic Society in Washington D.C.

“Refugees have profoundly changed my life. They have taught me what it is to be brave … to be a mother … to have strength of character,” Angelina told the crowd referring to her 8 years as UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador.

“There are millions of desperate families, so cut off from civilization that they don’t even know [World Refugee Day] exists,” she added.

Angelina also reiterated the World Refugee Day theme “Real People, Real Needs”.

“I believe we must persuade the world that refugees must not be simply viewed as a burden,” she said. “They are the survivors. And they can bring those qualities to the service of their communities and the countries that shelter them.”

Angelina also sat down with CNN’s Anderson Cooper this evening to talk about the plight of refugees around the world. (We don’t have the video just.) In that interview, she talked about how her work with refugees effects how she raises her kids.

“I usually just explain to [my kids] that there are other families in the world that aren’t as fortunate as ours and other kids’…And so I tell them that it’s important for all of us to do what we can and then go to these places and understand what’s happening.Hopefully I’ll take them to as many countries as I can and raise them witwith an education of the world.”

“And I think by…meeting them, by making friends with these type of people and these type of children, it will make my children better people as they get older,” she added.

Coming fast on the heels of the Pitt clan’s donation to a Missouri hospital, is another large donation from the Jolie-Pitt family.  Today, the Jolie-Pitt Foundation announced a gift of $1 million to the United Nations Refugee Agency specifically to help Pakistani refugees. Angelina has been to Pakistan three times during her time as Goodwill Ambassador for the UNHCR but it was too dangerous to film there while she worked on A Mighty Heart.  Agency head António Guterrest thanked the foundation for their contribution.  He said the situation in Pakistan is “the most challenging humanitarian crisis of the past decade.” More than 2 million people have been displaced.

On Thursday, Angie will appear on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 and host a World Refugee Day reception in Washington D. C. on (Hillary Clinton will be there as well.)  Angelina will  also appear on Friday’s Today Show.

Angelina Jolie continues to bring attention the plight of refugees around the world.  This year’s PSA urges us not to ignore those that have been displaced by war, famine or environmental factors.

“Please don’t turn away. Refugees are the most vulnerable people on earth. Every day, they are fighting to survive. They deserve our respect. Please do not forget them. Remember them on this day. World Refugee Day,” Angelina says.

The theme for the year’s World Refugee day is “Real People, Real Needs”. The UNHCR asks everyone to remember refugees even in the midst of our the world financial crisis:

Of the millions of people forcibly displaced by conflict, persecution and natural disasters, every one has a story to tell; they are real people, just like you and me, and they have real needs. But, despite the best efforts of UNHCR and many others, many of these basic needs are far from being met.

A comprehensive assessment of the needs of refugees and other people cared for by the UN refugee agency revealed that 30 percent were unmet - a third of them in basic and essential services. Improvements in nutrition and water supplies, access to primary health care, strengthened child protection programmes, better protection for women from sexual violence and abuse, and improvements in living conditions and sanitation facilities are just some of the needs that are not being met worldwide.

This World Refugee Day we ask you to remember the millions of forcibly displaced and stateless people under our care who are struggling with their day-to-day lives. One thing connects them all: basic needs that must be met so they have a chance to rebuild their lives.

Check out last year’s PSA if you haven’t seen it.

Angelina Jolie will join Anderson Cooper on June 18 to commemorate World Refugee Day. World Refugee Day, created by the United Nations General Assembly in 2001, is officially celebrated on June 20th. Last year Angelina appeared in PSA to call attention to as part of World Refugee Day activities.

The UNHCR says this year’s theme will focus protection:

On June 20, we celebrate World Refugee Day. This year, events around the world focused on the fundamental need for protection. For some, this means economic security; for others, protection is freedom from violence and persecution. On World Refugee Day, we turn our attention to the millions of refugees who live without material, social and legal protection.

Since its foundation in 1951, UNHCR has protected tens of millions of refugees. For us, protection consists of tangible improvements in the lives of forcibly displaced people – from the provision of food and shelter to support for those lacking legal status or those wishing to return to their home countries. On World Refugee Day, we commemorate this vital engagement.

Protection is also about raising awareness. We cannot protect refugees if their plight remains invisible. On World Refugee Day, we highlight the universal nature of protection. Not only are refugees protected all around the globe, but the responsibility for protection is equally global.

Ultimately, protection is a challenge that knows no borders. Neither can it be left to a single agency to provide. This World Refugee Day, we launched a global call for action. We want to promote engagement at the grassroots level, in local communities, workplaces and online. Only through a global network of supporters can we meet the manifold needs of protection.

Stay tuned for more on this year’s activities.

Angelina continues  her international advocacy work by pinning an editorial for Time magazine which makes a case against Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir. Friday the International Criminal Courts presented the United Nations Security Council with evidence against the man many say continues to spearhead the genocide in Darfur. Here’s  what Angelina had to say:

Friday is a defining moment in the history of justice. The members of the United Nations Security Council will be presented with the results of the International Criminal Court’s Darfur investigation — an investigation that they requested. Their response will determine whether there is going to be an international standard of justice that holds perpetrators accountable for the worst crimes in the world.

The evidence the prosecutor has presented is clear and compelling. Millions of people have been displaced; hundreds of thousands have been killed; and at the center of it all stands Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who has been indicted on seven counts of war crimes and five counts of crimes against humanity.

(more…)

I didn’t realize that Brad was with Angelina in Thailand. You’ll notice he’s got a couple of cameras around his neck. I’d love to see(but probably never will) his photos of these beautiful, heroic people. The first video is a UNHCR produced segment for the public at large and the second seems to be UNHCR piece that was released to the media. The second features Angelina talking about her work and the history of the UNHCR.

The United Nations Council of Refugees was founded after World War 2 to handle the refugees crisis created by that war. Since that time, the UHCR has worked tirelessly to resettle, house, clothe and educate those that have been forced form their homes. Angelina became a UNHCR Goodwill ambassador in August, 2001 and has worked tirelessly for refugees around the world since.

In a statement released today, Angelina Jolie urged Thailand  to treat Muslim Refugees fleeing Burma (Myanmar) with greater fairness and compassion.

Thailand’s treatment of the Rohingyas, an oppressed Muslim minority from mainly Buddhist Myanmar, has been widely condemned as evidence emerges that hundreds were rounded up by the Thai military and towed out to sea.

Angelina was deeply troubled by her visit with Burmese refugees in Northern  Thailand.

“I was saddened to meet a 21-year-old woman who was born in a refugee camp, who has never even been out of the camp and is now raising her own child in a camp.”

The camp Angelina visited is home to 18,111 refugees who are not allowed outside the camp for work or schooling.

“With no foreseeable chance that these refugees will soon be able to return to Burma (Myanmar), we must find some way to help them work and become self reliant,” she said. “I hope we can work with the Thai authorities to speed up the government admissions process and that you will not be forced to go back to Burma if danger remains.”

“Visiting Ban Mai Nai Soi and seeing how hospitable Thailand has been to 111,000 mostly Karen and Karenni refugees over the years makes me hope that Thailand will be just as generous to the Rohingya refugees who are now arriving on their shores.”

“I also hope the Rohingya situation stabilizes and their life in Myanmar improves so the people do not feel the desperate need to flee, especially considering how dangerous their journey has become,” she added. “As with all people, they deserve to have their human rights respected.”

Angelina talked with another young woman that was forced to flee her home in November for the safety of the camps.  Angelina asked the young woman if she was scared.

“Yes, I was scared,” Pan Sein said. “It was dangerous to flee, but even more dangerous to stay in my village.”

Again and again Angelina brings our attention to perilous situations around the world.  I had no idea that Thailand was discriminating against refugees based on their religion.  I’ll keep an eye out for opportunities for us to support the cause.  I’m sure their will be(or is) some organized letter writing campaign.

Source: UNHCR

Source: Reuters Canada

Angelina completed her first post-twins UNHCR trip yesterday.  She visited Afghan citizens who’d returned home from neighboring countries like Pakistan.

During her trip, Ms. Jolie visited recent returnees in the eastern province of Nangarhar, where almost 20 per cent of all Afghans who return to the homeland have settled since 2002.

Refugees told Angelina that they are not able to return to their homes of origins because of poor security and lack of land. People who have are still in their home country but are not able to return to their original city and state are classified as internal refugees.

Angelina was impressed with the “the courage, resilience and quiet dignity of returnee families rebuilding their lives against the kind of adversity few of us can imagine shows the human spirit at its best.” She encouraged more international age fore resettling Afghanis.

As always,  kudos to Angelina.

Angelina Jolie has recorded a Public Service Announcement to bring awareness to Friday’s World Refugee Day.

“They have survived war, they have survived displacement, they have survived rape, they have survived hunger and disease,” Angelina says during the spot. “For those who have survived and for those who did not, we are thinking of you on this day.”

The dialouge is accompanied by photos of refugees around the world. An article penned by Angelina will appear in U.S. papers on Friday as part of the Word Refugee Day activities.

Other activities include a replica of a Darfur Village in London’s Trafalgar Square. Rome’s Colosseum will be lit with the refugee agency’s logo.

For more information got the UNHCR website.

I forgot to mention this but the forum was co-sponsored by Angie’s group Education Partnership for Children of Conflict. She founded the group with Gene Speerling last year as part of the 2007 Clinton Initiative. In this video from Tuesday’s conference, she’s talks about how transformative education can be to a child of conflict.

To read additional facts about children of conflict click below. I am eternally grateful to Angelina for her continued education on this subject. (more…)

Angelina wrote a thought provoking editorial this week for the Washington Post. Unlike most of the liberals( I think saying Angelina is liberal is a safe assumption-I’m also pretty liberal so no judgment here.) she thinks we should stay in Iraq.  Based on her Iraqi experiences in Febuary, she thinks this is the best course of action for the country, and the region at large. Here’s a snippet:

“My visit left me even more deeply convinced that we not only have a moral obligation to help displaced Iraqi families, but also a serious, long-term, national security interest in ending this crisis.

Today’s humanitarian crisis in Iraq — and the potential consequences for our national security — are great. Can the United States afford to gamble that 4 million or more poor and displaced people, in the heart of Middle East, won’t explode in violent desperation, sending the whole region into further disorder?

What we cannot afford, in my view, is to squander the progress that has been made. In fact, we should step up our financial and material assistance. UNHCR has appealed for $261 million this year to provide for refugees and internally displaced persons. That is not a small amount of money — but it is less than the U.S. spends each day to fight the war in Iraq. I would like to call on each of the presidential candidates and congressional leaders to announce a comprehensive refugee plan with a specific timeline and budget as part of their Iraq strategy.

As for the question of whether the surge is working, I can only state what I witnessed: U.N. staff and those of non-governmental organizations seem to feel they have the right set of circumstances to attempt to scale up their programs. And when I asked the troops if they wanted to go home as soon as possible, they said that they miss home but feel invested in Iraq. They have lost many friends and want to be a part of the humanitarian progress they now feel is possible.

It seems to me that now is the moment to address the humanitarian side of this situation. Without the right support, we could miss an opportunity to do some of the good we always stated we intended to do.”

Read the article in its entirety here. 

CNN got this exclusive sit down with Angelina while she was in Baghdad. It features many of the quotes found in my previous post. Angelina says she came to Iraq to learn about the issues facing the region personally. Apparently the reporter almost asked her about being pregnant but Angelina dodged. I can’t find any he footage which happened at the very end of this video. I don’t know that it actually aired more than once on CNN if at all. I’ve posted a snippet of the transcript below.

Damon: There are reports out of Hollywood that… (laughs)

Jolie: But I don’t have to answer. OK?