Author(s):
Sue Wixley <wixley@icbl.org> .
Monday 10 January 2005
Angelina Jolie, Oscar-winning US actress, says she's "ashamed" that her government has failed to join up to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty. She was interviewed by the BBC shortly after the historic Nairobi Summit for a Mine-Free World last year.
Jolie spoke to Gavin Ensler at the BBC studios in London. Credit: BBC
"It's angering that not everybody has signed this treaty to ban landmines. It's disgusting, it really is, because it is fact that (mines) hurt a high percentage of civilians. They're not effective in any other real way. They've enough weapons for war," said Jolie.
Jolie was inspired to take up the cause against landmines after she saw their devastating consequences in Cambodia, the location of her Tomb Raider film.
Since then, the actress has supported the International Campaign to Ban Landmines and its work, become a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations and received several awards for her work for world peace.
- Click here to watch Jolie’s interview for the BBC HardTalk Extra programme or find out what she had to say.
- Click here for her article, "Ridding the world of landmines, one backyard at a time", published by the Bangkok Post in 2004.
- Click here for her statement of support to the Mine Ban Treaty meeting in 2003.
