Humanitarian Issues Actress Angelina Jolie Wants to Solve - from Helping Refugees to Fighting Violence

The A-lister Angelina Jolie is known for her stunning beauty and great acting skills on-screen. But she also dedicates her life to important causes that aren’t as glamorous as her Hollywood life.

Jolie’s dedication to humanitarian causes started when she was named as a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador in 2001. But the big shift came when she went to Cambodia a year before to shoot “Tomb Raider.”

The actress started traveling the world as a volunteer in humanitarian causes in her early twenties. Jolie shared with Vogue how much she learned and evolved with her social work:

“I have learned more from [refugees] about family, resilience, dignity and survival than I can express.”

Since then, she’s been helping social causes worldwide. We’ve listed the main projects the Academy Award-winning actress has been involved in.

UNHCR SPECIAL AGENCY

After years of being the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) Goodwill Ambassador, Jolie was invited to become a UNHCR special envoy in 2012.

Since her early twenties, when she began working as an ambassador, the actress has completed around 60 fields missions and traveled to many refugees camps and war zones in Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Sudan, and many others.

She founded the National Centre for Refugee and Immigrant Children, got involved in building schools for refugees girls, and won awards for her work alongside the UN.

DRAW ME TO SAFETY WITH WAR CHILD UK

In 2014, Angelina Jolie joined forces with Stella McCartney and the War Child UK to launch the Draw Me To Safety Campaign. The goal is to help children in war-torn countries and to end sexual violence. At the time, she

to Marie Claire:

“We all agree that rape is a terrible crime. But many people have got used to thinking of it as an inevitable feature of war.”

PREVENTING SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN CONFLICT INITIATIVE

Jolie co-founded the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative in 2012 with the former Foreign Secretary Lord William Hague. War-zone rape is a huge problem and still seen as a “lesser crime,” as the actress addressed the issue.

The initiative works together with NATO to support, train, and protect peacemakers in war zones since they’re also part of the problem.

SOS CHILDREN’S VILLAGE

The actress is also one of the ambassadors of the largest NGO on child development globally, SOS Children's Village. The organization works on supporting and

the rights of foster children.

The 46-years-old actress and activist have traveled to many places with the organization, and she shared that it is important to see children growing up in a safe and loving environment.

THE JOLIE-PITT FOUNDATION AND THE MADDOX JOLIE-PITT FOUNDATION

A year after adopting the 20-years-old Maddox, a foster child from Cambodia, Jolie and her former husband, the Hollywood actor Brad Pitt founded The Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation. Four years later, they founded the Jolie-Pitt Foundation.

Both initiatives aim to work in humanitarian causes such as ending poverty, improving education and health, and protecting the environment in Cambodia and across the globe.