UN Goodwill Abassador Angelie Jolie spotlights plight of Iraqi Refugees

During her visit to Damascus, Syria in early October, Academy Award-winning actress and UN Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie worked with Iraqi families and refugees to understand the situation faced by the 4.2 million Iraqis who have been displaced from the country since the Iraq War’s start in 2003.

Jolie’s assessment of the situation paints a clear yet bleak image on the situation as a whole—“most Iraqi refugees cannot return to Iraq in view of the severe trauma they experienced there, the uncertainty linked to the coming Iraqi elections, the security issues and the lack of basic services.” The hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees face increasing violence and are unable to return home. Given the limited assistance to refugees aside from humanitarian agencies (ie: UNHCR) and other NGOs, Jolie urged the international community to work towards the support of these individuals financially and otherwise to allow for their existence.

For more information visit the UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news.