Angelina Jolie is furthering her work on behalf as refugees beyond her role as Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency. She has teamed up to help refugee children:
Actress Angelina Jolie and a team of 25 powerful law firms are joining forces against the government's attempt to deport thousands of unaccompanied and illegal immigrant children - including hundreds from New York City.
Backed by Microsoft Corp., Kids in Need of Defense will provide free legal representation to children separated from their parents. The group will open offices in New York and other several other cities...
"These children often have nothing - no money, no support and no family," Jolie said in a statement. "Many end up becoming lost, traumatized, and ultimately forgotten."
Jolie also spoke Friday at the Council on Foreign Relations, introducing a panel on the International Criminal Court and the prosecution of perpetrators in Darfus, sponsored by the Jolie-Pitt Foundation.
"Over the past seven years, I've worked with UNHCR and I've traveled around the world trying to bring attention to refugees," she said. "It's been a remarkable education."
Jolie, who has visited dozens of war-torn countries around the world, spoke passionately on behalf of the victims she's met. "I've seen refugees return to live among the same people who attacked them," she said. "They are returning to the same lawlessness that sent them running in the first place. I've seen aid workers tear up as they put ladies on a bus and say, 'I don't know what we're sending them back to...
"I don't know if the ICC is the answer. And I don't know what type of court is, or what it would need to be to make all of us agree and make it strong enough," Jolie admitted. "But I do know this: No mother who had her children killed in front of her, no young girl sold into slavery, no boy kidnapped and forced to be a child soldier and no young girl like the 3-year-old I met in Sierra Leone, who had her limbs cut off, should be expected to simply forget. No one should have to choose between peace and justice."