Angelina Jolie Pitt – who met a Syrian family in Lebanon’s Bekka valley, made an impassioned call on the international community to commit itself to resolution of the refugees crisis and the conflict that entered its fifth year on Tuesday.
“My plea today is that we need governments around the world to show leadership: to analyze the situation and understand exactly what their country can do,” the Hollywood star and UN Refugee Agency’s Special Envoy, said said, speaking to reporters in pouring rain.
March 15 marked the fifth “grim anniversary” of the Syrian multi-layered conflict that began in 2011, when Bashar al Assad used force against Arab Spring-inspired demonstrators demanding democracy in the ancient Arab country.
The UN figures reveal that the conflict has resulted in exodus of 4.8 million refugees into neighboring countries, hundreds of thousands into Europe, and displacement of 6.6 million people internally, resulting in one of the largest humanitarian and refugees crises.
Jolie, who spent emotional moments with a Syrian family with kids and women, asked world capitals to focus on the absolute root causes, and to display courage and foresight in their decisions, according to a UN statement.
Angelina Jolie Pitt calls for global solidarity on 5th anniversary of Syrian conflict. Credit: United Nations
“That starts with having a very robust asylum procedure to be able to hear the needs of the desperate families to identify who is most vulnerable and who has a genuine refugee claim,” she said.
In a reminder to the world of the need to demonstrate humanity toward hapless refugees, Jolie appealed also for Governments to uphold the 1951 Convention on Refugees and basic human rights law: “it is both necessary and possible to protect people fleeing persecution and death and protect citizens at home. It should not be reduced to a choice between one or the other.”
In the backdrop of some government’s opposition to refugees influx into their countries with regard to fears about the refugee situation and its potential impact on their communities, livelihoods and security, she said :
“We have to focus on the absolute root causes, and that takes a certain amount of courage and leadership. And in my view, leadership in this situation is about doing more than simply protecting your borders or simply putting forward more aid, it means taking decisions to ensure we are not heading towards an even greater refugee crisis in the future.”
“It is not wrong to feel unsettled faced by a crisis of such complexity and such magnitude.
But we must not let fears get the better of us,” she said. “It is a time for reason and calm and foresight.”
Jolie’s statement drew attention to the plight of children and families pushed out of their homes. Save the Children organization reported last week that the Syrian conflict has hurt a whole generation of kids, killing, wounding and leaving psychological scars.
“I spent time this morning with a mother who was paralyzed after being shot by a sniper’s rifle in a besieged area of Syria. She lies in one room, where she lives with her whole family, in a small, cold, makeshift settlement here in the Bekaa Valley. Never once during our discussion did she ask for anything, did she stop smiling, or talk of anything other than her desire for her children to have the chance to go to school and have a better life.
“When I saw her beautiful smile, and her dedicated husband and children looking after her, I was in awe of them. They are heroes to me. And I ask myself, what have we come to when such survivors are made to feel like beggars?
“We can do the right thing by refugees and build a more secure international environment. We can build order out of chaos.”
Besides neighboring Turkey – which has given refuge more than two million Syrian refugees – Germany has led the way in Europe in taking in the largest number of Syrian refugees, while some Eastern European countries and far right politicians have been using tactics to block the entry of refugees. In the United States’s highly charged presidential election year, Republican politicians like Donald Trump have adopted an exclusivist approach to opposing increased in America’s share of refugees settlement.
Last month, the international community pledged $5.9 billion for the 2016 appeal for humanitarian and development aid, when the assembled at a London conference.
Now, the UN is urging additional forms of support, including better access to livelihoods and educations, and a greater sharing of responsibility by countries that are limiting and blocking numbers of refugees seeking safety in their borders.
The international community is at a “crossroads,” the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grand said, and “if the world fails to work together due to short-term interests, lack of courage and knee-jerk reactions to shift the burden elsewhere, we will look back ruefully on this lost opportunity to act with solidarity and shared humanity.”
