US actress Angelina Jolie was on Monday officially appointed a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
The 26-year-old actress, best known for her portrayal of the super-heroine Lara Croft, formally received her UNHCR blue passport at a short ceremony presided over by High Commissioner Ruud Lubbers.
The actress has just returned from Pakistan where she visited several camps for Afghan refugees in the Peshwar district. She earlier visited Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Cambodia.
"Pakistan is the worst situation ... and it seems to be worsening. They're living in situations that I don't think anybody in this room could survive in for a few days. I admire them and I'm very worried for them. It's overwhelming," she told a press conference.
Lubbers paid tribute to the actress for her "compassion, understanding, her respect for refugees and her personal generosity."
Referring to her as "my new goodwill ambassador," he told the press conference: "We really need her to convince the young generation that something has to be done. It's terribly important for my refugees."
Angelina Jolie takes over from American singer Barbara Hendricks -- (AFP)
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