Unit Four

What is a Goodwill Ambassador?

What do a Hollywood actress, a Congolese basketball star, an American pop singer and a former US boxing champion all have in common?  Actress Angelina Jolie, basketball star Dikembe Mutumbo, singer Clay Aiken and one-time boxing champion Muhammed Ali are among the celebrities serving as UN Goodwill Ambassadors.  Goodwill Ambassadors are notable people who use their fame and talents to call attention to some of the world's most dire problems.  As representatives of the UN and its agencies, Goodwill Ambassadors travel to some of the most troubled regions of the world to spotlight human suffering resulting from war or disease.  Calling the world's attention to these bitter realities can bring aid from governments and individual donors alike to take corrective action.

In her role as UNHCR* Goodwill  Ambassador, actress Angelina Jolie has traveled to refugee camps in many areas of the world including the Balkans, Cambodia, Ecuador, Kenya, Namibia, Pakistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Sierra Leone and Sri Lanka. When asked why she wanted to work on behalf of refugees, Ms Jolie said, "I started to travel and realized there was so much I was unaware of. There were many things I hadn't been taught in school and daily global events I was not hearing about in the news. So I wanted to understand.  I believe in what the UN has always stood for—equality and the protection of human rights for all people. So I read many books. When I read about the 20 million people under the care of UNHCR, I wanted to understand how, in this day and age, that so many people could be displaced."

During her camp visits, Jolie talks personally with those who live in the camps.  Of her talks with refugees at a camp in Ecuador, Jolie said, "What was really shocking was that every individual person you meet will tell you that their immediate family was affected. Somebody's child was killed, somebody's husband. Someone was beaten." 

Jolie learned that half of the world's 35 million refugees are children. The actress, herself the mother of adopted, orphaned children, has talked to numerous orphaned children in refugee camps.  A personal contribution she made to UNHCR operations in Kenya made possible the building of a school for girls.  Written on the plaque of the future school site are the words, "Dedicated to the emancipation of the refugee girls of Kakuma and women's rights and freedom to education." An official of UNHCR Kofi Mable said, "With this help, and the construction of this school, future generations of girls will be saved."  

Saving children and inspiring young people everywhere to take action on behalf of the world's less fortunate is the aim of the Goodwill Ambassadors.  Dikembe Mutombo, NBA basketball player for the "Philadelphia 76-er's" is also 'Youth Emissary' of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Mutombo has made world-wide public service television broadcasts encouraging young people "to do sports, not drugs", and also promoting AIDS-prevention and online literacy. Mutombo has also made a personal contribution to build a 300-bed hospital in his native country, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The multilingual Mutombo is able to get his message out in ten languages: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and five African dialects - in the spirit of true internationalism of the Goodwill Ambassadors.