‘Since I was last here in Iraq, another two million people have been forced from their homes. Mostly in the last six months – this time Iraqi citizens.’
‘Too many innocent people are paying the price of the conflict in Syria and spread of extremism. The international community has to step up and do more.
U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Angelina Jolie made the above statement at a press conference during her trip to northern Iraq to meet with the ISIS victims at a Kurdish refugee camp on Sunday, January 25, 2015.
Among the ISIS victims the A-List star met were a group of elderly women who were among nearly 200 Yazidis recently released by insurgents.
‘It is not enough to defend our values at home. We have to defend them here, in the camps and in the informal settlements across the Middle East, and in the ruined towns of Iraq and Syria. We are being tested here, as an international community, and so far – for all the immense efforts and good intentions – we are failing,’ she said at a press conference at the Khanke Camp for Internally Displaced People (IDPs).
The 39-year old actress appealed to world leaders to join in the fight against terrorism by finding a common ground to move foward.
“It is past time for leaders on all sides to find a common ground and a way to move forward,” she said. “It is not enough to defend our values at home we have to defend them here, in the camps and in the informal settlements across the Middle East, and the ruined towns of Iraq and Syria.”
“The people I met today need to know that we will be with them giving them the support they need to survive for every day they remain displaced,” she said. “And above all they need to know one day they will be able to go home and that there will be an end to this suffering.”
