George Clooney Awarded Life Membership to Council on Foreign Relations

George Clooney joins the ranks of Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, as well as fellow artists Michael Douglas and Warren Beatty, as he becomes a lifetime member of the independent and nonpatisan global policy think tank Council on Foreign Relations, The  Daily Beast reports.

Clooney was nominated by New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof and television host Charlie Rose.

The Academy Award-winning actor’s humanitarian work is focused on advocacy campaigns that throw the spotlight on conflict areas, including Darfur in Sudan. This week, he and human rights activist John Prendergast wrote an editorial lobbying for bold U.S. diplomacy in Darfur.

Clooney also went to Chad last year and pledged to help more than 12 million internally displaced people in the region.

In 2007, Clooney founded “Not On Our Watch” together with fellow actors Don Cheadle, Matt Damon and Brad Pitt, film producer Jerry Weintraub, and human rights lawyer David Pressman to help raise awareness on atrocities and generate humanitarian assistance for people affected by conflict.