Mohammed Maidan

A Humanizing Condition (Angelina Jolie-Pitt)

Professor R.Andrew Brown
UWRT 1102
03/14/16

A person is considered an advocate if the person supports an issue or a

particular policy publicly. With the world problems and all what is going around,
advocates are important to remember people with others rights. I think human rights are
important so I chose one of the best advocates in my opinion, which is Angelina JoliePitt who supports refugees and displaced.
Angelina Jolie-Pitt is one of the most famous actresses in the United States of
America. She is married to Brad Pitt, an American actor who is known worldwide. The
involvement of Angelina Jolie-Pitt in humanitarian affairs started in 2000(United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees). And the rest is history. She has received many
awards and recognitions for her excellence in the advocacy for the rights of refugees
and displaced persons (Abaroa). Angelina Jolie-Pitt is one of the most visible and vocal
international activists for safeguarding refugees and displaced people.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is the agency who has the
main goal of maintaining the well-being of people who were forced to leave their homes
and their nations for various reasons (Abaroa). Angelina Jolie-Pitt made contact with the
agency right after filming one of her most famous movies entitled Tomb Raider in
Cambodia in 2000. She was recognized as a United Nations High Commissioner for

Refugees Goodwill Ambassador in 2001. King NorodomSihamoni awarded Angelina

Jolie-Pitt with Cambodian citizenship because of her notable projects in the country.
High Commissioner Antonio Guterres gave her recognition for the years she spent with
the refugee agency by her appointments as his Special Envoy in 2012(United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees).
The advocacy in the context of the works of Angelina Jolie-Pitt highlights the
need for an increase in the awareness of the whole world regarding the issue about
taking care for refugees and displaced persons. Angelina Jolie-Pitt displayed this
advocacy through her personal visits to the locations filled with refugees and displaced
persons who need help. The kind of advocacy that is being examined is connected to
exercising the human rights of displaced persons and refugees. My personal
understanding about the advocacy of the humanitarian affairs regarding displaced
people and refugees is that everyone should be able to exercise his or her rights no
matter where he or she is and whatever the situation in his or her country is.
The advocacy of humanitarian affairs about refugees and displaced persons is a
kind of literacy because having a deeper understanding of this matter will lead to a
better perception of the world we live in. Leadership by example is one of the most
effective ways that Angelina Jolie-Pitt used to promote the advocacy for refugees and
displaced persons. She was a part of more than 40 field missions to certain secluded
areas of the world in order to emphasize the difficulties of millions of refugees and
displaced people (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees). She is the
representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in engagements
that discuss global issues about displacement. Angelina Jolie-Pitt has an accumulated

donation to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees since 2001 amounting
to over five million US dollars. Initiatives focused at the improvement of the lives of
people who were displaced forcibly, like the construction of schools in Afghanistan and
Kenya, were funded by her financial support. Angelina Jolie-Pitt adopted Maddox from
an orphanage in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. She bought a traditional home and the
150,000 acres of land around it in the province of Battambang. She named it the
Maddox Jolie-Pitt project. It was built to be a wildlife reserve that was converted and
expanded to a site of numerous livelihood programs.
Angelina Jolie-Pitt is known in the whole world not just for her excellence in show
business. She is one of the most famous personalities in the entire world for her handson work and her humility in promoting her advocacy (Abaroa). The refugees and
displaced people she personally meets in her missions give her the inspiration and the
motivation to keep on increasing her efforts in fighting for their safety, well-being, and
future. I believe Angelina Jolie-Pitt is making a legacy that will last beyond her lifetime.

Works Cited
Abaroa, Patricia. Angelina Jolie: Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR. 2013. 30 March
2016. <http://www.azureazure.com/philanthropy/angelina-jolie-goodwillambassador-for-unhcr>.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Angelina Jolie Pitt Fact Sheet. n.d.
30 March 2016. <http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49db77906.html>.