Jolie shares refugee award
Thursday, 08 Nov 2007 18:02
UN goodwill ambassador Angelina Jolie to share prestigious Freedom award
Angelina Jolie's work in improving the plight of refugees has been honoured by a prestigious award.
The Hollywood actress will share the International Rescue Committee's (IRC) Freedom award with the UN high commissioner for refugees, Antonio Guterres.
Jolie has been a goodwill ambassador for the UN for the last six years.
In a video message at the New York award ceremony she hailed the "close partnership" between the UN high commission for refugees (UNHCR) and the IRC.
Mr Guterres told attendees: "The Freedom award is a symbol that we will only be able to fully enjoy our freedom when everyone else is able to enjoy theirs."
The UNHCR is tasked with protecting the rights of the ten million-plus refugees worldwide and the 25 million people who have been displaced by internal conflicts.
Now in its 50th year, previous winners of the IRC's Freedom award include Winston Churchill (1958), Burmese Nobel laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (1995) and former US presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton (2006).