Award-winning screen actress Nicole Kidman was named on Thursday
as a goodwill ambassador for the UN Development Fund for Women
(UNIFEM), which she pledged to support through travels to
devastated countries where its projects are carried out.
Introducing Kidman at a news conference in New York, UNIFEM
Executive Director Noeleen Heyzer said, "We are honored to have
Nicole join the UNIFEM family."
"Her role is to raise awareness of the pressing issues that
women face around the world and to amplify the message that the
contribution of women is essential to development, to the building
of just and peaceful societies," she added.
Kidman said she was "honored" to become a goodwill ambassador,
adding she was not pretending to be an expert on any of the issues
that UNIFEM addresses, but was looking forward to learning and
lending her support to "help make visible the very real and
immediate problems."
The Academy Award-winning Australian, 38, said she plans to
travel with Heyzer this year to find out more about the
organization's work and to meet with women, hear their stories and
understand first-hand the issues they face.
"The countries that we're considering possible visits to include
Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Afghanistan and
Cambodia, and that's just a beginning," Kidman told reporters.
(Xinhua News Agency January 28, 2006)
