Actress Kidman named as US ambassador
Australian actress Nicole Kidman will work to advance women’s rights around the globe in her new role as a goodwill ambassador for the UN.
Working with the United Nations Development Fund for Women (Unifem), Kidman, 38, will focus attention on “critical gender concerns such as ending violence against women,” according to a press release from the UN.
“Nicole joins Unifem as we are celebrating our 30th anniversary to help raise awareness on issues of pressing concern to women around the world,” Unifem’s executive director Noeleen Heyzer said.
Kidman joins Princess Basma of Jordan – who focuses her attention on the Middle East – and Phoebe Asiyo, a member of the Kenyan Parliament, as a Unifem ambassador.
Leigh Pasqual, a Unifem spokeswoman, said that the only other high-profile ambassador the group has had was the actress Julie Andrews, who was in the post in the early 1990s.
Since the 1950s, UN agencies have enlisted the help of prominent personalities from the arts and sports worlds to highlight key issues.
