In case you were wondering what Angelina Jolie was up to this week, she was in London to attend the UN Peacekeeping Defence Ministerial. She attended the conference alongside UK defence Secretary Michael Fallon and American SecDef Ash Carter (she greeted both men like old friends). Angelina’s appearance at the conference was described as a “surprise” but she also gave a speech, so I think she probably was always scheduled to attend.
As for the speech, Angelina first honored the work and sacrifices made by UN Peacekeepers, but she also called for changes to be made to the business-as-usual of peacekeeping missions. She pointed out that peacekeeping missions around the world need more female employees from top to bottom, and perhaps the inclusion of more women in the bureaucracy of the UN will lead to more comprehensive changes in how peacekeepers behave while on the ground in a crisis. She specifically called out the UN’s missions, credibility and reputation were “sadly undermined by the actions of a few intolerable cases of women and children being sexually exploited by the very people in charge of protecting them.” Jolie asked for a new approach by UN missions with “the rights and protection and involvement of women at its heart… Peacekeeping forces can only gain and keep the trust of local populations if they are able to engage with women as well as men in that community.” You can read more about the conference here.
Here’s a clip from Jolie’s speech:
God, I just love her. She’s such a badass. She’s up there talking to a room full of seasoned diplomats and military-defense people and they are all listening to what she is saying.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
She’s aging like Audrey Hepburn and I love it.
Good comparison.
Before scrolling down to the comments, in my head I had just said, “she is the modern day Audrey Hepburn!” She really is class incarnate, and a well-rounded, intelligent human. She’s inspiring!
She is stunning and, like Audrey, that inner kindness and spark really radiates from within and makes her more than “just another beautiful woman.” I hope that makes sense haha.
She’s saying what needs to be said and I love it.
Truth. She is only saying common sense. The UN has a terrible reputation for tolerating sex offenses among its peacekeepers, and it really gives the ones who are there to–you know, work hard and keep the peace a bad rep. UN peacekeepers were Catholic priests before the Catholic priest hoopla. And the UN continued to embarrass itself by not investigating the cases well, or just dismissing things.
If it weren’t such a man’s club, that would change.
She kicks so much @$$ with her truth-speaking awesomeness.
She is an amazing woman. Bad Ass to the bone
I was wondering if Jolie would ever say anything about this and been getting increasingly disappointed that she hadn’t. So I am now happy.
There have been some DREADFUL goings-on with the UN Peacekeepers. I mean really dreadful. Check out the #predatorypeackeepers hashtag on Twitter or this article on Media Diversified for details: http://mediadiversified.org/2016/04/12/the-uns-good-vs-bad-narrative-clears-the-way-for-sexual-violence-and-impunity.
There is also a petition to sign: http://community.avaaz.org/petitions/we-will-not-stand-by-when-un-soldiers-abuse-rape-and-murder
Thank you Sixer for the links, this is atrocious.
Thank You to the links. About the first one: it’s based on old numbers as proof, I’d like to see fresh numbers. I’m especially interested in peasekeepsers missions, because President of my country has been asking for such mission since last year. And paying attention to the history of conflict in my country and how controversial media is, I’m very suspicious about the timeline of such reminding reports. Like they try to discredit smbd. I’m not protecting any kind of violence, described cases are gross, but why now, why 12 years after?
Thank You to the links. About the first one: it’s based on old numbers as proof, I’d like to see fresh numbers in article of 2016. I’m especially interested in peasekeepsers missions, because President of my country has been asking for such mission since last year. And paying attention to the history of conflict in my country and how controversial media is, I’m very suspicious about the timeline of such reminding reports. Like they try to discredit smbd. I’m not protecting any kind of violence, described cases are gross, but why now, why 12 years after?
The second link is impressive, its scary and, unfortunately, fresh. No positive tendencies. Should I be concerned , that such powerfull information will destroy my hopes for peasekeepsers mission? A lot of people see it as the only way to resolve the war conflict here.
Hi Anastasiia
Here’s a tumblr that keeps up with the various news articles: http://predatorypeacekeepers.tumblr.com/
You can also google fairly quickly to find Amnesty press releases (I don’t want to try our hosts’ patience with too many links) and op-eds in quality papers of several countries.
I don’t think anyone is suggesting that peacekeeping missions should be suspended. More that there is poor oversight and institutional failure to do anything about incidents which are not happening all the time in every mission, but do occur much too frequently.
Hope that helps.
Thank You a lot. It’s a very important side of peace keepers mission that I HAVE to research.
Yep, and the UN’s ongoing denial/ass-covering that it was Nepali peacekeepers which caused the HORRIFIC outbreak of cholera in Haiti (more than 9,000 people killed) – has made me lose a lot of respect for the organisation.
Of course, UN peacekeepers do a lot of good, but the tendency of some officials to drive around in their expensive land-rovers and live it up at posh hotels – in the midst of mass poverty and/or war zones (e.g. East Timor) – has caused them to lose a lot of credibility.
Yeah, it’s irritating that UN and OSCE missions live in most expensive hotels in my city and drive the most expensive cars. 5* is a pure pleasure, but obviously not so necessary for living.
Thanks for the links. Signed the petition.
Beautiful as always. But, why the evening dress in the day? I would never wear that for work.
Was it during the day? I can’t find a time – and the attire of the woman she was photographed with could go either way.
A LBD is like a passport anyway. It gets you everywhere well enough.
It was the sheer sleeves that made it more cocktail-y looking for me. I don’t do sheer for work. There was a picture of her outside and it was daylight. But, she is so beautiful it doesn’t much matter!
And she is bloody right !! Go Angie !
Professor Jolie’s speech was thoughtful and something that truly needed to be said.
Nothing good comes from a group being able to police itself.
Well said. I’m always encouraged by seeing her doing what she does to contribute to the well being of others.
When I was small and in Catholic school, we used to be encouraged to give up something for a greater good. For instance, you don’t buy that candy bar, or have the ice cream cone or get that “thing” you saved your allowance for and in return you further (at that time) peace in Russia or some poor child getting fed in some unexpected way. That was the gist. And every time I see Angelina Jolie, and how thin she is, I wonder if she was schooled in some similar manner and believed one’s small sacrifices can make a direct difference and/or that she is so empathetic to those in need that she eats sparingly as a solidarity thing.
Amazing and brave speech. She should be a world diplomat. She is so smart and as Brad said, she does not operate from ego like so many. Although she has made her role so effective. Too bad mainstream media chooses to dismiss her as just a Hollywood A lister.
Given the scale of abuses committed by UN peacekeepers, I would call this speech “safe” and “underplaying” rather than brave.
That said, she is the first prominent/celebrity type of person to even mention it, so, as I said above, I’m very appreciative.
she’s going to have a busy week/fortnight?
today already in Azraq Camp in Jordan
https://twitter.com/unhcrjo/status/774234821728014336
isn’t next week is UN Summit for refugees?
This might be me projecting, but I think the surgeries she had were harder on her than she let on – she looks frail. Those were major surgeries so kudos to her for jumping back to work. I really respect her and Brad for focusing their celebrity power and money on humanitarian efforts. We need more Brangelinas and ZERO Kimyes or JayZs/Beyonces.
Still one of the most beautiful Hollywood actresses. She is flawless and looks healthy and happy.
Beautiful and classy as always! She has a way with words and truly cares.
I cannot warm to this woman. Everything she does comes off as so contrived to me. I appreciate that she speaks out on women’s issues we are all well aware of but at what cost and what good? I don’t buy it. Superficially I find her pretty but creepy and polarizing at the same time.
“I appreciate that she speaks out on women’s issues we are all well aware of ”
Clearly a lot of people are not aware of the issues she speaks about. In fact, I’d wager most people are not.
As for what good, well you need only listen to the testimony of the Cancer Foundations for example who state that the ‘Angelina affect’ as it is called, has meant a lot more women have gotten checked for breast cancer. All Cancer organisations praise her. She is a warm and genuine person, and I think in her 14 years of being involved in humanitarian work, she has more than proved it. There is nothing creepy about her, only those that think that way. I’d rather my daughters look up to a woman who isn’t cynical and is genuine, warm-hearted and approachable and sincere, rather than those who look at people through a suspicious, jealous, cynical and dare I say it creepy lens.
Tarsha I think it would be wise on your part to accept and RESPECT that not everyone sees things the way you do. I’m not saying what I wrote is correct it’s just the way in which I view her. I do not consider myself cynical. Not all cancer organizations have commended her on her choice either. Read Aang’s comment. She doesn’t agree with me either but she also doesn’t try to belittle my opinion.
From the breast cancer perspective, I’m a breast cancer surgeon and I am indebted to her for her honesty about the process. My job explaining genetic mutations and risk-reduction surgery as an option has been made substantially easier. People get it. They are also less afraid of surgery when they see how wonderful she looks and how accomplished she continues to be.
I like the dress, but I have a black turtleneck with sheer sleeves that I wear to work a lot.
joannie, it is clear you don’t like her so your opinions come from that place so I call it out. Also I have not come across one single organisation that doesn’t support her choice. ‘S’ is saying what all doctors and organisations are saying.
At one time I was bothered by how she seemed to have used fame and fortune to buy her way into a position for which she wasn’t trained. Ahead of many women who studied and worked for decades to make diplomacy and activism their life’s work. I was bothered by how ignorant we as a population are to need a “movie star” to get us to pay attention to real issues. But she doesn’t seem to be going anywhere and we might as well let do what good she can with her position. Whatever you think of her motives, the outcome is positive.
@Aang: The “Angelina only wants attention” comments are so old and ridiculous. I don’t see how how Angelina is stealing her position from others when there are literally hundreds of celebrity UN Ambassadors. Not to mention she’s been doing this for over 15 years. There are easier ways than going to war and poverty plagued countries for a little bit of attention. Celebrities meet with World leaders and do presentations because they would get a lot more attention than others. I also don’t understand why people feel the need to dismiss Angelina because she didn’t attend college. She probably has more education and training than many who did. Angelina could do this for another 50 years and people will still say she’s desperate for attention. Same with people saying Brad and Angelina are going to break up any second.
Yes she been doing this for 15 years for what??? attention no one puts in that sort of time and years for something insignificant as attention.
NO ONE should ever say anything about woman issues because we all aware of the issue right?? Should black celebrities not say anything about racism because we’re all aware of the problem or she female celebrities not say anything about sexism because we’re all aware of the problem as well.
I appreciate what she tries and is trying to do, but I don’t think giving a speech makes one a badass just because the listeners are higher ups.
She is SO MUCH more than just the most beautiful face in the world. Girl crushing like crazy over here!!
This is terrible. It’s gotten so bad that anytime UN peacekeeping is brought up, this is what’s discussed (as it should be when this type of thing occurs). In grad school, there was an entire class dedicated to UN peacekeeping (not peacekeeping in general) and like a major chunk of the 3-month term was spent discussing the abuse towards the local population they were supposed to protect. The rest dealt with mandates (i.e. what military actions they’re authorised to take).
I think doubling the number of female UN peacekeepers is a great start, and I do believe it’ll be helpful for the local populations. But then I worry about the female peacekeepers themselves. Don’t forget what goes on in the US military…
Men will always hurt women. Inclusion makes for diversity in PR photos, but what happens behind closed doors is business-as-usual. Back in Shakespeare’s days, women weren’t allowed to act because being around male actors was considered dangerous. Today, I attend an acting class but if I don’t reciprocate the male teacher’s advances/respond positively when he flirts, I don’t get a role in the class’ Shakespeare play and he makes my life a living hell during my time there… No matter what we do, women will always be sexually sexually harassed, exploited, abused, assaulted.
At least in an acting class, I can go back to the safety of my own home at the end of the day… When you’re deployed in peacekeeping mission, you’re confined in a compound (24/7 in a foreign land) with the male coworkers who harass you.
Quite.
I also think it speaks volumes both that Jolie brought it up and exactly how careful her remarks were about it. Hurrah for the former and sigh to the latter, that it has to be danced around. The UN needs to be bludgeoned about this and DO BETTER.