Summary:

Hollywood actress and campaigner Angelina Jolie said she was "ashamed" that the United States still had not signed a UN charter on protecting children's rights.

Hollywood actress and campaigner Angelina Jolie said she was "ashamed" that the United States still had not signed [the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child].

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Jolie - a UN goodwill ambassador - said a lot of things about her country had shocked her over the past few years.

"I am absolutely ashamed" Washington has not formally ratified the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child," she said. "Being an American I think it's horrible. I think Congress should ratify that. If we really care about that how dare we not ratify it?"

The United States signed the Convention in 1995, but apart from Somalia is the only country not yet to have ratified the treaty.

Jolie, 30, has worked as a goodwill ambassador for the UN refugee agency UNHCR for four years, travelling on field missions to some 20 countries over that time including Cambodia, Ivory Coast, Jordan, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

She adopted two children, Maddox, from Cambodia, and Zahara from Ethiopia, and is now pregnant by screen star and partner Brad Pitt.

Jolie, rated as one of the film industry's top actresses, has appeared in some 30 films and won an Oscar for a supporting role in "Girl, Interrupted."

The actress, who is in Davos with Pitt, has been a regular top draw at the annual forum of political and business leaders.

She recalled when she first began visiting refugee camps. "It was a whole different world for me," she said. "Children should have an education," she said. "People should have a right to seek asylum. This has become very important to me."

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Last updated 30/01/2006 08:42:09

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Your Feedback

Rhonda Staudt wrote on 20/02/2006:
I am in agreement with Miss Jo