Actress and humanitarian Angelina Jolie has been invited to visit Nauru, the site of a controversial Australian asylum seeker processing centre.
Jolie, who is also Special Envoy for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), has reportedly received a direct invitation from the Nauruan president Baron Waqa to visit the centre.
Pedestrian reports that Waqa extended the invitation at last month’s Global Summit to End Sexual Violence Against Women in Conflict, for which Jolie gave the opening speech.
Nauru’s government says the visit would be an opportunity for Jolie to discuss the impact of violence in times of conflict on refugees and asylum seekers, the ABC reports.
The Nauruan government also said in a statement the visit will be a wonderful opportunity to showcase the facilities for refugees in Nauru.
It claims the facilities are of the highest standard, although the UN Refugee Agency has described the conditions inside the centre as “rat-infested, cramped, and very hot.”
The agency has raised particular concerns about the living conditions for asylum seeker children on Nauru, with the the UNHCR’s Richard Towle in January describing suggestions that unaccompanied children be transferred there as “deeply concerning,” the ABC reports.
Immigration Minister Scott Morrison says Angelina’s visit is a matter ‘for the Nauruan government.”
“I’ll leave that to my colleagues in Nauru,” he added.
Jolie has already visited Syrian refugees in Jordan’s Za’atri camp, as well as camps along the Thai-Myanmar border, as UNHCR special envoy.
Jolie is reportedly booked out until the end of the year, and has not confirmed that she will accept the invitation.
Top Comments
I hope Angelina comes via Australia and has the opportunity to meet with some of the advocates to discuss their long standing concerns. She could invite Amnesty to come with her, maybe? They were refused permission to visit!
In Brisbane, we'd love her to visit the Pinkenba detention centre and meet some of the families evacuated from Nauru after 8 + months for medical treatment here, mothers and children needing specialist treatment for depression, children who have had nothing that could be described as schooling.
She could also hear from some of the men relocated from Manus and Nauru , driven crazy by grief and worry about wives and children left behind in acute danger, even in a war zone like Syria and Gaza . They can neither provide for nor protect their loved ones while locked up in immigration detention.
Welcome Angelina... just tell the truth, because our government does not. We don't even know how many unaccompanied children under 18 are on Nauru- with no family support. The Minister is their Guardian , but also their jailer. Something is wrong in the State of Australia. .
Wow, maybe angeline can visit every aboriginal area and ask why Australia is spending all our aid money on people who don't live here? Maybe angeline can return to the USA and tour the Indian reservations and African American slums? Maybe she can visit Mexico and ask why they are sending thousands of unaccompanied minors illegally to the USA to circumvent immigration laws. Perhaps she can visit Syria and look at the execution of innocent people. Maybe she can go to Nigeria and find the schoolgirls ? Maybe she will bump into Sting in an amazon rain forest or Bono at some African camp before they return to their billionaire residences. She makes movies, no big deal. She also had a drug problem a few years back. My point is, celebrities can not waltz in somewhere and really know or understand the real situation. All they do is attract people who don't have a life, hanging onto their every sentence. No one in Australia voted for the angeline party.
Angelina knows more than most people! she has spent significant time meeting with people and hearing their stories. She has also given money and set up foundations. She has a voice that many people listen too.
Angelina is the Special Envoy of UN High Commissioner for Refugees and has previously been a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN. She has been to Syria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Pakistan, Cambodia, Sudan, Afghanistan, Ecuador, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and the Congo.
She has multiple awards for her humanitarian work and has raised awareness and millions of dollars for the causes that she dedicates herself to. She was recently spoke at the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict in front of world leaders.
I would suggest that she does know about these issues. She does much more than make movies.
I'd wager she knows more about the issues facing refugees than you do given the work she's done and the places she's been over the past thirteen years. How many weeks have you spent living and working in refugee camps worldwide?
No, nobody voted for her, and what does that have to do with anything? Since her priority is the refugees rather than winning an election, I think she has more credibility as a UNHCR Special Envoy than a politician. You're being close minded if you think that being an actor prevents you from having a brain or caring what happens in the world.
I'm sure movie stars have good intentions, but we are all still cringing from when k Rudd invited celebrities to help him devise govt policy. Celebrities should do what they do best and let governments do what they do best , in this case deter people from getting on unsafe boats etc so that we can afford places to genuine refugees. Pretty soon our facility on Nauru will be closed so it won't matter what mrs Pitt thinks. I'm proud of this government as they are not bending to a very extreme vocal MINORITY.
Uhhhh... Angelina is a UN envoy. She's devoted a lot of time to refugee advocacy she's not just a random celebrity.