Amal and George · Charity · News · Press

Amal and George Clooney Team Up with UNICEF to Help Refugees 31.07.2017

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The high-wattage human rights activist couple is helping displaced Syrian kids get back to school.
A strikingly effective defender of neglected and exploited groups around the world, international human rights lawyer Amal Clooney and her husband, actor George Clooney, are stepping up to make sure all the world’s children get the opportunities they deserve. The couple’s Clooney Foundation for Justice announced a $2.25 million partnership with UNICEF, which includes a generous donation from Google.org and an additional $1 million technology grant from HP Inc. The partnership will fund seven schools in Lebanon to help 3,000 currently out-of-school Syrian refugee children get back on track.

“Thousands of young Syrian refugees are at risk — the risk of never being a productive part of society,” Amal and George Clooney said. “Formal education can change that. That’s our goal with this initiative. We don’t want to lose an entire generation because they had the bad luck of being born in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

The devastating six-year Syrian civil war has affected 80% of the country’s children. More than 5 million Syrian refugees have fled to neighboring countries. Lebanon, which has the world’s highest per capita refugee population, has been particularly affected by an influx of more than 1 million displaced Syrians. Schools are overflowing beyond capacity and students must attend in staggered shifts.

“How can children become the workers and leaders of their countries someday if they have not had the education and support they need to reach their full potential?” asked UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake. “By supporting the work of UNICEF and our partners to deliver education to every child affected by the conflict in Syria, the Clooney Foundation for Justice is not only investing in the futures of individual children, it is investing in the future of the entire region. UNICEF is deeply grateful for this critical funding.”

Seeking justice for those in need is familiar territory for the Clooneys. A former refugee herself, Amal Clooney was only 2 years old when civil war forced her family to flee Lebanon. They eventually settled in England. In 2016, she  represented victims of the Yazidi genocide in the International Criminal Court, the world’s permanent human rights court in The Hague. Her lead witness, Nadia Murad, is one of the thousands of Yazidi women abducted and brutally abused by ISIS fighters in Iraq.

Murad and Clooney addressed the United Nations together in September, 2016, demanding that the Islamic State be held accountable for their crimes against the Yazidis. “I am ashamed, as a lawyer, that there is no justice being done and barely a complaint being made about it,” Clooney told U.N. members. “I am ashamed, as a woman, that girls like Nadia can have their bodies sold and used as battlefields.”

“Holding back women is holding back half of every country in the world,” Clooney said. The Clooneys’ partnership with UNICEF marks the latest chapter in their dedicated effort to ensure the rights of women and children everywhere.

Source UNICEF USA

Published by nati3873

43 thoughts on “Amal and George Clooney Team Up with UNICEF to Help Refugees 31.07.2017”

  7. Whenever I read these reports about their foundation, I often wonder how much of the Clooney Foundation’s activity is simply more self-serving behavior – just meant to generate positive PR for the Clooneys? They only seem to fund what’s trendy by U.S. standards. For instance, Amal likes to get involved in cases fighting human rights violations by ISIS, but never once mentions the circumstance that brought about ISIS: the 2003 invasion of Iraq. She also turned down that offer to represent Palestinians. And, here’s an example of George’s past hypocrisy: http://www.humanosphere.org/world-politics/2016/09/clooney-exposes-corruption-in-south-sudan-already-known-and-he-helped-perpetuate/

    Sorry, but fashion aside, I can’t help but see these two as consumate narcissists and hypocrites. I bet Amal spends vastly more time thinking about her wardrobe, cosmetic enhancements, and photo releases to the press than she does human rights. Maybe my opinion of them would change if they did something truly brave with their money and time.

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    3. Agree, Lady. As with all glitzy million dollar new projects helping educate the poor and oppressed, especially by wealthy white Western celebrities, time will tell whether there is any effect or substance…… The website certainly reads as though it has been written by a 15 year old learning about expositions and persuasive texts.It is very glib, superficial and lacks depth. We shall see.

      Sadly, I also waited to see whether Amal was indeed pregnant, but her absence from the media in the last 3 months of the pregnancy, and her subsequent exceedingly thin postpartum frame, lend me to agree with those who say she was not pregnant and the children are the product of surrogates. We shall see. In time, this will also out itself.

      Their whole life seems a sham upon a sham from where I am sitting and observing. It is sad if it is so as they had/have so much potential as a wealthy and conspicuous couple.

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      1. In my opinion, food, water and shelter for so many is far more important than education at this point.
        I guess some of those lucky enough to have the aforementioned will now be able to go to school, sometime in the distant future, thanks to George and Amal and especially to those who donate to Clooney’s foundation, UNICEF and Google.org.

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    4. I also prefer people who do good and don’t tell the whole world, but what really struck me was the statement that ” the risk of never being a productive part of the society” . I believe that education should all be about exploring and bring out your potential and not be about productivity.

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  9. Education leads to productivity and to a better understanding of the world. What the Clooney’s are trying to do is noble. It is also an experiment to see if this kind of schooling, meaning two shiftsa day of students, can work. No sense in starting a large-scale effort that proves to be unworkable. The schooling is to start immediately and not sometime in the future. It is not easy getting partners, much less political people on the same page in the midst of a war.
    I find it sad that there is so much cynicism about their attempts to better a situation.
    Also, being a human rights attorney does not mean you take on the history of a problem. You have a specific client or cause that you are advocating for. Keeping the issue clear is what is paramount not necessarily muddying the waters with backstory.

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    1. If you’ve been keeping up with the situation in the Fertile Crescent at all, UNHCR has been sponsoring second shift schools in Lebanon for Syrian refugees for at least a few years, now. It’s not a novel idea. All the Clooney Foundation is doing is adding funds to a program that’s already established and has already been shown to work.

      To clarify: Amal being a human rights attorney has nothing to do with her political public statements/activities. George was politically active well before he met Amal. If you notice, they only ever make “safe” political statements. Bromides, really. *In addition*, Amal’s choice of clients is pretty much determined by what is politically “safe” by U.S. foreign policy standards.

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  10. Hello Nati I say this with all respect for the effort you put into this blog. However, I think you should reconsider your twitter feed which often appears to be speaking FOR Amal. My other main criticism is the combination of tweets promotingMrs Clooney’s unattainable (for most of us) haute couture with really distressing images of distressed children and people in the most desperate of situations. I do not feel these two elements of Mrs Clooney’s life (i.e. her obvious passion for labels, lavish lifestyle and fashion and style and the real life drama of people in war torn countries) sit well together. Actually, it’s offensive to people in distress.

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    1. I never speak for Amal. It is clearly written Amal Clooney Style. But I understand your opinion. The war in Yemen, the Yazidis, the Christians in the middle east or the Syria war are reality but I will focuse my tweets more on Amal only.

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      1. Or should we perhaps ALL collectively redirect this obsession with this vain, publicity seeking celebrity lawyer (and whether its for her cases or self promotion, Amal and her family certainly seek it) and focus on the issues you refer to in your response. Is our celebrity culture causing even women of intelligence to shy away from some of the real dangers the world is facing? Easier to click on a blog and bury your head in the sand thank actually get informed and involved in real life. This is what I have been doing – how do others feel about it? I think I am addicted to this kind of online gossip.

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      1. @casualobservor51 – “Easier to click on a blog and bury your head in the sand than actually get informed and involved in real life.”

        One doesn’t exclude the other, the two things can co-exist. This is a style/fashion blog (and a really nice one) but I don’t come here to be informed or for my ‘real life’ news. I doubt you do either.

        “This is what I have been doing – how do others feel about it? I think I am addicted to this kind of online gossip.”

        We’re living in seriously effed-up times where every day brings new WTF how-in-the-worlds-is-this-happening horrors. It’s really not a stretch to understand why people seek refuge and take solace in places like this where, for a small pleasurable while, you can forget the horrors and debate the merits and non-merits of what Amal Clooney is wearing.

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    4. I agree that it is extremely distasteful to show Amal’s lavish lifestyle alongside articles about serious suffering in the feed, particularly articles that have nothing to do with Amal. Further, since your Twitter account is explicitly titled “Amal Clooney Style,” it should only represent Amal, not your interests, Nati. Amal has never said anything public about some of the political items that you include in your Tweets in her name. So, only fashion photos and the latest news about her seems most appropriate. Inclusion of something on your Twitter page should only have one condition: if the article actually says “Amal Clooney” in it.

      I’m not saying that the news articles that you Tweet are not worth posting – just consider opening a different Twitter account for those items, if you haven’t already.

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      1. Lady-
        Ugh- all of you trolls who criticize page need to realize it’s her blog, her twitter, let it go. Go start your own page then. I find the only thing hypocritical is how Amal wears thousands of dollars do clothes while defending people who have nothing or very little. Nati posts the news stuff because it has to do with Amal; it is directly related to what she’s doing. It is really up to nati what she wants to post, and I find it so pushy how people such as yourself and others aggressively tell nati how to run her page/pages. Very aggressive and pushy. Leave it alone, let her run it as how she sees fit- it is her eye; her design, her page. She doesn’t need you incessantly giving her pointers and aggressively trying to make her feel she should change something.

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      2. Amanda,
        I’m guessing that you are new here. I have been a semi-regular commenter on this blog for a few years, with some positive, some negative opinions, some of which Nati has herself “liked.” Hardly a “troll.” Furthermore, your comment could be construed as “trolling,” itself, given the name calling.

        In fact, if you bothered to read through Nati’s Twitter feed, you’d notice that many of the Tweets have nothing to do with Amal or her cases (as I pointed out before). E.g. the tweets about Yemen, etc. I do think that the situation in Yemen is dire and horrible, but, again since you appear to have missed this fact: it also has nothing to do with Amal.

        There’s absolutely nothing wrong with stating an opinion and supporting those who share a similar opinion.

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      3. Lady, my Twitter account doesn’t work no more and I don’t have any access to “Amal Clooney ” searching. My last tweets are in relation with Amal and I never pretended to be her. You can find many fake Amal’s accounts on FB or Instagram. Why don’t you attack them instead of me ? 3 years of work vanished.
        The Yemen situation is critical.
        I deleted my “sensitive” tweets and we will see.

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      4. Sorry to hear about that, Nati. I never really paid attention to your Twitter account or the other, fake accounts before someone made that comment about the content. Sorry that you thought I was attacking you – my comments were only meant to say that you should narrow your focus, since it’s a fashion account. I’m all for spreading the word about Yemen, so I think that’s something you could do with a different Twitter account.

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  13. Nati, your website does a wonderful job in tracking Amal and her clothing choices. You never promised more. It is disappointing that some come to criticiitze what they know little about,This has has to do with politics and not clothes. Amal and her husband, George, have been careful to respect all kinds of opinions while trying to help those with no voice; Surely, this transcends clothes,, politics. or “stardom.” Can’t we all agree that what is being attempted is a good thing? I really don’t understand the cyincism.

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  14. Nati, you wrote:

    “Amal wore 15000$ outfits defending and supporting people who lost everything. Is that offensive too?”

    But you didn’t answer – Is it offensive to you? Or acceptable?

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      1. I am curious to know your opinion however as you are her most ardent follower – Is it offensive to you or acceptable that Amal wears “15000$ outfits defending and supporting people who lost everything”?

        I think if anyone can make sense of this detail in “Amal’s news and style”, it will be you. It may be very helpful to some of the readers. I am definitely interested in hearing your opinion on this particular matter.

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      2. My Twitter account was attacked because I retweeted some tragic situations in Yemen or in Palestine. Saying it was offensive or that I speak for her. If you are looking for people speaking for her simply go to Instagram or Facebook.
        About Amal’s style she can match perfectly her looks and she is a good inspiration. She can be very elegant or casual in the different situations.

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