Angelina Jolie Accepts Expanded UN Refugee Role

Angelina Jolie has been promoted by the United Nations refugee agency from a Goodwill Ambassador to Special Envoy, giving the actress more diplomatic responsibilities in her efforts to draw attention and improve the plight of displaced people around the world.

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In her role as Goodwill Ambassador over the past decade, Jolie has made several high-profile visits to refugee camps in hotspots such as Iraq, Haiti and Pakistan on behalf of the U.N.'s High Commissioner for Refugees.

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"Her work does go substantially beyond what we would typically see as being the normal role of a goodwill ambassador," Edwards told reporters in Geneva. "I don't think you need a rocket scientist to see the benefits that she is bringing in terms of the attention that she is getting for the plight of the world's displaced."

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In her new role, the star will represent the organization at the diplomatic level to governments and diplomats as she focuses on complex refugee emergencies triggered in war zones such as in Afghanistan and Somalia.