Angelina Jolie brings attention to orphan crisis
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-18 09:17

Actress Angelina Jolie used her star power Thursday to draw attention to a new law assisting the world's orphans and to push for funding.

UN Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie meets with Sen. Dick Lugar, R-Ind., at the US Capitol, regarding the UN Millennium development goals, Thursday, Nov. 17, 2006, in Washington. [AP]

The law, the Assistance for Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children in Developing Countries Act, was signed last week by President Bush. It directs the government to evaluate the effectiveness of US assistance aimed at the more than 143 million orphans living in Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Caribbean. It also directs Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to appoint a special adviser to work on the crisis.

But the law still needs to be backed up by $340 million in funding, said Rep. Barbara Lee (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif. That's about one-tenth of what the US is expected to devote to the global AIDS crisis this year. Many orphans lost one or both of their parents to AIDS.

"By fully funding this legislation, we would be saying to the world that we believe that the life of a child in the poorest country is just as important, just as valuable, as the lives of the children in the United States," Jolie said at an event in a congressional office building celebrating enactment of the legislation.

Jolie, a goodwill ambassador for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, has adopted two foreign orphans, a Cambodian son and an Ethiopian daughter. She won a supporting-actress Oscar for 1999's "Girl, Interrupted."