Angelina Jolie announced that she was stepping down from her role at the United Nations after 20 years serving with the U.N. High Commissioner of Refugees, becoming its Special Envoy in 2012. She and the UNHCR released a joint statement on Friday announcing the news and she also shared an Instagram post about her time with the organization.
“I am stepping down today from my work with the UN Refugee Agency,” Jolie wrote. “I believe in many things the UN does, particularly the lives it saves through emergency relief. UNHCR is full of amazing people making a difference to people’s lives every day. Refugees are the people I admire most in the world and I am dedicated to working with them for the rest of my life. I will be working now with organizations led by people most directly affected by conflict, that give the greatest voice to them.”
Filippo Grandi, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, said Jolie has been an “important humanitarian partner of UNHCR for very long.”
Grandi continued, “We are grateful for her decades of service, her commitment, and the difference she has made for refugees and people forced to flee. After a long and successful time with UNHCR, I appreciate her desire to shift her engagement and support her decision. I know the refugee cause will remain close to her heart, and I am certain she will bring the same passion and attention to a wider humanitarian portfolio. I look forward to our continued friendship.”
Jolie has expressed some frustration with the U.N.’s work in the past, according to CBS News, saying as much during a 2019 speech to the General Assembly.
“We live at a time of blatant disregard for the laws of war that forbid attacks on civilians,” she said. “We seem incapable of upholding minimum standards of humanity in many parts of the world.”
Aimée Lutkin is the weekend editor at ELLE.com. Her writing has appeared in Jezebel, Glamour, Marie Claire and more. Her first book, The Lonely Hunter, will be released by Dial Press in February 2022.