“The way we as an international community try to address conflict and insecurity is broken,” she said. “It is erratic, it is unequal, it is built on inherited privilege, it is subject to the whim of political leaders, and it is geared towards the interests of powerful countries, including my own, at the expense of others.”

Jolie lamented the relative apathy of world leaders for “crimes committed against the women and children of Burkina Faso, or Yemen, or Myanmar, or Ethiopia, for example”.

She has also appeared to grow increasingly disillusioned with the UN, where permanent members of the powerful Security Council – the United States, Britain, Russia, China and France – exert tremendous sway and have the power to block action on human rights abuses.

“Because of the way the UN was set up, it is tipped towards the interests and voice of powerful nations at the expense of those people suffering the most from conflict and persecution whose rights and lives are not treated equally,” Jolie wrote in an opinion piece for TIME in June. “For decades, the main focus has been the work of international organisations. There’s been not enough attention on listening to local groups and volunteers, and strengthening their efforts.”

In a sign that Jolie was moving away from her work with the UN, the actress made a surprise trip to Ukraine in April to meet with displaced people and volunteers helping them – but in her personal capacity, not through UNHCR.

She had contemplated parting ways with UNHCR for “a while” before the announcement, according to a person close to her, who answered questions on the condition of anonymity to speak freely about the situation.

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“Basically, she will be more effective as an outsider,” the person said. “She always has been like that and more with the people than the system.”