1. February, 2001, Sierra Leone.
“The first trip, the first time I was in Sierra Leone, the war was still going on. And it was such a brutal war, with people having arms and legs cut off. I remember seeing a three-year-old child with amputated arms and legs. I could not understand how that could make sense in any reality, how people could be so horrible to each other. ”
In an interview with CNN in 2007, Jolie said: “In Sierra Leone, it was a realization that there were real horrors in the world and real — and a kind of cruelty and violence that I really did not know existed. And I did not people could suffer like that. In Sierra Leone, so many people had systematically had their arms and legs cut off, and even 3-year-old kids with no arms and legs, because they were hatcheted off, or friends that had to cut off other friends’ hands and legs, and they were traumatized. And it was, really, to this day, it was the most brutal situation I have ever seen. I felt so unaware, and I felt so naive to the real atrocities happening across — across the globe, and — and that I knew I needed to, as a woman, as a human being, just had a responsibility to educate myself with these things, and not let them go by unnoticed — personally, I knew I needed that, and to never again be confronted with a situation like that and think ‘my God, how did I not know this was happening?’. And then, just the more I have gotten to know refugees and refugee families, they had a strength and a spirit that I have never seen anywhere else than when I meet a refugee. They’re not victims at all. They don’t — they don’t live as victims. They certainly know that there has been an injustice. And they are very smart people. And I think that is something that people often don’t connect with a refugee. They think of them as a desperate group. Einstein was a refugee. They are, in fact, some of the smartest, I’m sure the most resilient people in the world. And, also, many of them, before they became refugees, most all of them, lived lives like ours.
2. June – July, 2001, Camboja.
Asked what she hoped to achieve through her position at UNHCR, Jolie said: “Awareness of the plight of these people. I think they should be commended for what they have survived, not looked down upon. I think these are really amazing people that are not really understood. Also, I personally just wanted to meet these people around the world and know them, because they are my heroes, and I think they are wonderful people.”
3. August, 2001, Pakistan.
Jolie visited Pakistan to learn about UNHCR’s assistance programs for the two million Afghan refugees in the country. She also donated $ 1 million to help Afghans refugees in neighboring countries, such as Iran.
4. March, 2002, Namibia.
Jolie visited the Osire refugee camp, donating food, tents and sports equipment, as well as cash for educational projects and women’s care. The camp was founded in 1998 and at that time had a population of 24,000 refugees, most of them Angolans. After spending the day with the refugees, Jolie said “These people have an incredible spirit and determination”.
5. May, 2002, Thailand.
Jolie visited the Tham Hin refugee camp, established in 1997 and at that time with a population of 9,000 people, mostly Karen ethnic, from Myanmar. When asked about her field impressions, Jolie said the refugees “are really taking care of themselves and taking responsibility for themselves. This field is a real example of work field. ”
6. June, 2002, Ecuador.
Jolie’s first experience in the Andean region. Visit to Colombian refugees who have fled guerrilla and paramilitary violence. “What was really shocking was that every person you met said that someone in their family had been affected. Someone’s son was killed, somebody’s husband, somebody caught up. ”
7. October, 2002, Kenya.
Visit to the Kakuma refugee camp, home to about 80,000 people, 71% Sudanese, also holding Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, DRC, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Angola citizens. Many girls thrilled Jolie by recounting her trajectories and telling her how much they wanted to go to school and receive education, but for some reason they could not study. About a Sudanese girl who told her story, Jolie said: “She lost her entire family when she was only five years old and has been in this camp for more than 10 years. What do you say to someone who loses her whole family at such an age?” After sitting down and talking to the girls under the shade of a tree in a reception center, Jolie said: “These girls are so strong, so inspiring. They want an education because they want a better life, they know they don’t have to stay forever near the bottom of the pile and want to move up”. Jolie was surprised when she heard how many of the girls and women in the camp were subjected to various forms of violence – from rape to genital mutilation – and how many can not attend school because of housework. “On this trip my main concern has become the plight of refugee women and particularly girls. In Kakuma, close to 1,000 girls are out of school. I was upset to find that a good part of them are in this situation because of both early and forced marriages. I saw 12-year-old mothers!”. Jolie donated money to build a girls’ school at the camp. The actress said she had seen worse and better camps than Kakuma’s, but what made this different from the others was the number of girls who did not have a chance at a better life. “It is not fair, it is simply not fair – every child, every girl has a right to education. Here they have just enough to survive, but they are so special, so spirited. It is I who must learn from them.”
8. December, 2002, Kosovo.
Jolie visited returnees, Croatian refugees, minorities and mixed communities, reporting their problems of local integration, education, work and infrastructure. “It’s a sad place. Hard to see how it can ever return to normal. No real joy, but there is the ability to survive. To move on, to try to rebuild. To try to make neighbors of old enemies.”. Jolie also stressed in her diary: “It is very depressing here, but the people are very strong. There are many brave, hard working men and women determined to have peace and rebuild their country. And their will to do so, is inspiring.”.
9. March, 2003, Tanzania.
In her second mission to the country, Jolie accompanied a group of 91 children who had just arrived from DRC, from the route to the field to the construction of the housing tents. The Lugufu camp was home to 80,000 Congolese refugees.
10. April, 2003, Sri Lanka.
The country has gone through 20 years of civil war. While visiting a repatriated family in northern Sri Lanka, Jolie reported a woman speaking: “We are finding it very hard to live. Sometimes we think maybe we starve – maybe we will set fire to ourselves. Maybe it will be better somewhere else. The kids tell us, ‘No, we have to stay strong. It will get better, but I don’t know when.’”. When visiting a house for 516 orphaned and abandoned girls, between one and sixteen years old, Jolie reported in her diary: “We sit and meet with the group of 12 to 16 year old girls. I ask what they want to be when they grow up. They raise their hands after I ask the question. Many want to be doctors, a few teachers, but not one girl wanted to be a mother. We make clear, “not now – when you’re older.” Still, no one says anything about motherhood. Maybe because they were abandoned; they see children as a burden. When asked what they like best to do in a day they say “Pray, paint, and study.” I ask them, “When you are older, where would you like to have a home…near where you grew up or where your families were from?” Most of them say where they we were from. Even all alone, they would go home. I ask, do you have anything you wish you could have here. (They are children so I was expecting something fun) They say a library and some desks please.”. Jolie also visited a shelter and a school for children with hearing and visual impairment: “Many of these children were born this way. However, they say some children went deaf from the bombing. Some children were born handicapped because many pregnant women had to give birth on the run when the fighting started…they had to leave them behind or died while giving birth to them. Traumatic birth for the mother can cause defects in the child.”. The Ambassador also reported cases of domestic violence and rape, including against children. Most of the population speak Tamil, while police speak Sinhalese, with serious implications: In 2002, Save The Children reported the arrest of 57 children for violence, and in fact they were the victims.
11. August, 2003, Russia.
In the northern Caucasus, Jolie learned about all aspects of UNHCR’s operations in the region and visited camps for Chechen internally displaced people, endorsing her arguments that the return to their homeland would still not be safe. She met with children who were born in the camps and knew no other kind of life. In Moscow, Jolie met with several families of African asylum seekers, reporting on their difficulties of local integration, problems with education, housing and security. During a visit to the Russian Federation, she also met with senior government officials to discuss the situation of the uprooted. On August 22, she was awarded by the President of Ingushetia, Murat Zyazikov, with the highest order of the Republic, the Order of Merit for her outstanding services to humanitarian causes, particularly refugees and displaced persons. At the end of the mission, the Ambassador said in her diary: “Sitting on plane once again returning to the safety of my home, my country and my son. I always feel guilty leaving because it is so easy for me. I know that if thousands of people were dying every day in California, London or New York, it would be very different. But most of these people are in places like Africa, Chechnya, the Balkans, Central Asia and Colombia, and maybe the world is used to hearing about their deaths? Is it old news? Are they too many? Or is it that they have nothing we feel to give us in return? Which is of course wrong they have everything to offer. At the end of the day what should that matter, we are equal. They are families like us. And they need our help, our support. And in areas like Chechnya: they need us not to forget.”.
12. December, 2003, Jordan.
Jolie was on a private trip, but asked to visit the Ruwaished refugee camp in the Jordanian desert 70 km from the border with Iraq. The camp was home to around 800 people who had fled Iraq, the Palestinian majority. When visiting a school and a health center in the camp, Jolie noted: “The children sang songs of pride and longing for the homeland. It was very touching to hear them talk about the dream of having a place to call home”. At the school for children between four and twelve years old, the Ambassador reported: “Most want to be teachers and doctors. One says architect, one lawyer. I ask why? ‘To make justice for people, there needs to be more justice.’”. Eleven girls under the age of seven sang to her: “Palestine was sold by merchants. God knows we are injured and hurt. Be patient we will take our revenge we will take our homes back.”.
13. December, 2003, Egypt.
Together with the Goodwill Ambassador Adel Imam, Jolie visited Sudanese refugees outside the Egyptian capital, distributing winter clothes, blankets and toys, as well as donating money to a community health project. The ambassadors also discussed plans to work together to raise awareness of refugees in the Middle East.
14. April, 2004, Arizona, USA.
Jolie visited asylum seekers detained at three facilities in the Arizona desert. UNHCR is against the detention of petitioners and refugees; however, as the US and other industrialized countries follow policies with retention programs, the agency has often played a vital role in monitoring and ensuring better conditions for these people, especially unaccompanied children. According to UNHCR, thousands of asylum seekers are detained every year in the US, including more than 5,000 children a year.
15. June, 2004, Chad.
Jolie visited the refugee camps on the eastern border of Chad, which receives people from Darfur in western Sudan. She has heard stories of militia attacks and how camps are considered open prisons, since outside refugees become more vulnerable to sexual violence and beatings. She accompanied humanitarian agencies by rushing to provide emergency assistance to refugees, assisting, for example, food distribution and malnutrition verification procedures in children. She also reported cases of sexual and/or gender-based violence in the region where women are considered second-class citizens and often victims of rape and abduction. Surrounded by children, Jolie described the sensation in her diary: “If I look at them too long I’ll start crying. They have witnessed so much. They have nothing, yet they sit quietly around their elders and if you catch their eyes, they smile. Still generous of spirit. That just makes it all the more heartbreaking.” Jolie was also touched to talk to the children and find out that most were orphans or did not know where their parents were: “I sit down with the kids. Their clothes have so many holes. They are falling off. They have no shoes. I ask the translator to please say, ‘You have been through a lot. You have been very strong.’ Some smile. Others bow their heads. They want me to know they miss school. They tell me how they have been beaten. Abda was tied by his neck and beaten and then left for dead. His father was killed by the Janjaweed. He is 10 years old. They are worried that in the coming days it will get cold. I would ask what I normally ask. What do you want to be when you grow up? Or what is your favorite sport or food, etc. But to ask these children would be cruel. They have no childhood and no hope.”. Finding a boy about ten years old holding some pages of stapled notebook, Jolie reported: “He is not going to school but he studies his old school papers, preparing. I would give anything for a bag full of pens and paper for them. I make a promise to myself to always carry this.”.
16. October, 2004, Thailand.
Jolie visited the Ban Pang Kwai camp, located approximately three kilometers from the Thailand – Myanmar border. Opened in 1996 and at the time of the mission with almost twenty thousand inhabitants, being most Burmese farmers, the camp aroused a mix of emotions in Jolie: “It is a city full of special people. Survivors. Remarkable families. It is also a prison.” The camp is in a leased area, which makes it impossible for the inhabitants to cultivate the soil, and more than half of the inhabitants are animist: “It seems in many ways they have every reason not to have faith and yet their faith is stronger in them than in most.” . Jolie also visited a school made of bamboo with dry leaves roof, where she found focused and dedicated children: “You wonder, knowing the realities in their country, if they will ever have a chance for a free safe future in Myanmar. Stability in the country will only be possible if this generation is focused and educated. If there is a chance to return and rebuild they will be ready.”, Jolie wrote in her diaries. When faced with teachers playing an old guitar and teaching children music, the Ambassador said: “It’s more than just a song. It is a way of keeping a language and culture alive when living in another country. We spent a while there. It was wonderful. A moment of smiles and peace.”. Jolie also visited an “accelerated school,” that is, supplementary education for young people who had lost many years of conflict education, such as child soldiers. Jolie found one: kidnapped at the age of 14 while on her way home, she was placed in the back of a truck with shackles on her legs: “We were forced through 4 or 5 months training. They say ‘You will lie. You will say you are 18. You are not a child. You are a soldier now.’ Can’t contact parents, even now they might be targeted because we escaped.”. Jolie asked: “Any chance to see them?” The child looks at the floor and answers very softly, “No.”. The Ambassador also visited an orphanage, where she was received with songs about Jesus Christ. In her diary she wrote: “My mother is Catholic and lovely, so I see the beauty of that religion. But when it seems without choice – a new culture in exchange for aid. It does not seem fair. Obviously missionaries have done many good things but all the children should have the freedom to make up their own minds. More importantly, having lost their country they should know their ancestors’ beliefs.”.
17. October, 2004, Sudan.
In mission in Darfur, Jolie monitored the situation of tens of internally displaced people, hearing stories about attacks on villages and rapes, as a 12-year-old girl was raped along with her mother. “”I met with many children who have been trapped in the middle of this conflict. They were wearing clothes full of holes, that were falling off. They have no access to school or medical attention, but when asked what they need, before food and clothes, they said security first.”. In an interview in 2005, Jolie said: “When I entered Darfur, I saw many emotional and frustrated humanitarian workers for not being able to move and properly care for people, since they were concerned that those people were living among those who hurt them.”.
18. December, 2004, Lebanon.
Jolie was on a private trip to Lebanon but took the opportunity to visit the UNHCR regional office in Beirut as well as young refugees and cancer patients. Jolie also met with refugee children from Sierra Leone, Sudan, Afghanistan and Iraq and distributed gifts.
19. May, 2005, Pakistan.
Jolie thanked Pakistan for hosting millions of Afghans and called for international aid to combat poverty in both countries through economic development. She also accompanied the departure of dozens of Afghans through the voluntary repatriation program and spoke to children who earned their living collecting garbage, a common occupation for Afghans in Pakistan. On a visit to a pottery in the outskirts of Islamabad, she cried when she saw children at least six years old working to earn a cent of every three mud bricks. “It was really one of the worst things I’ve ever seen, it’s very, very difficult for a mother to see children having to work.”
20. November, 2005, Pakistan.
Jolie returned to Pakistan to help with the humanitarian crisis aggravated by the earthquake in the country. Although assistance in case of natural disasters does not fall within UNHCR’s scope of action, the Ambassador stressed: “It is a must to be here and to help the Pakistanis, to support them at that time, having seen what they did for the Afghan people over the years. ”
21. November, 2006, India.
Jolie met with Afghan and Burmese women, who told her how they fled persecution in their home countries and found security in India. She also played with refugee children and thanked the experience: “I am grateful to the refugee families who spent time with me and shared their stories, they are remarkable, courageous people.”. On Afghan refugees in New Delhi, Jolie warned: “We often focus on refugee emergencies, but we forget that there are millions of refugees around the world who spend years, even decades, outside their countries,” she said. “The international community really must work harder to find solutions for these forgotten urban refugees.”.
22. December, 2006, Costa Rica.
The country receives mostly Colombians and Jolie was able to meet those benefiting from UNHCR’s microcredit program for the integration of refugees into the urban environment. The Ambassador also spoke with young Colombians about prejudice: “We are automatically associated with bad things – crime, delinquency, drug trafficking – but people never think of us as victims of the conflict,” said one teenager. Jolie stressed the need for greater tolerance and solidarity with refugees.
23. February, 2007, Chad.
Jolie returned to Chad to assess how the security situation for Sudanese refugees has deteriorated since her 2004 visit: “It’s always hard to see decent people, families, living in such difficult conditions”. Jolie had to travel through a sandstorm to get to the refugee camp, witnessing how such storms aggravate the already difficult life of the refugees by burying their homes and tents. She was received at a primary school by singing children, Jolie listened to their stories, concerns and hopes of one day returning home in Darfur. Subsequently, in a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations symposium, Jolie reported: “Over the past seven years, I’ve worked with UNHCR and I’ve traveled around the world to try to bring attention to refugees and internally displaced persons. And it’s been a remarkable education. On my last trip to Chad, I asked a group of refugees: what do they need, what are their concerns. One woman said better access to water, another said medicine, another better tents. And this young boy raised his hand and he said: we need a trial, and he heard that morning on BBC Radio that the ICC (International Criminal Court) had issued arrest warrants and it meant something to him. He was asking for what any of us would ask for having been violated, having had many horrific things happened to his family, and yet in my heart I knew that he may never see that trial; that justice often seems like a luxury for the rich and wealthy nations. In far too many places I have been, I have seen refugees return to live among the same people that attacked them. Peace is placed before justice, often instead of justice and often at the insistence of the perpetrator. And this is happening today with Joseph Kony in Uganda and with President Bashir in Sudan. They are threatening more violence and delaying or blocking aid if we attempt to bring them to justice and often we listen to them. We let them dictate what will happen. We let those who destroyed their countries decide the future for their countries. Now, I believe – after finding myself returning to countries that, after a brief period of peace, are again at war, that there is no enduring peace without justice. I’ve seen refugees whose rations were cut nearly in half, and I’ve seen them waiting for the aid truck to arrive, just to find out that the aid relief were stolen by the rebels who are still active. And I’ve talked with little kids who had bruises, they showed me and they said, ‘Somebody came and they gave us new school supplies, but the bad guys took them away because the bad guys are still there.’ And I’ve sat in a tent with women who were about to be returned to their homeland – women whose daughters were raped and husbands were killed, and many of their sons also killed or tortured, and I’ve heard them ask, ‘How is it safe to go back? ‘. And I’ve watched aid workers struggle to explain that some thing have been signed and some people shaking hands. But what they don’t say is that aid in their host countries has run out because the international community wants to see returns and wants to see progress, but there really nothing has changed to ensure their safety, and that they are returning to the same lawlessness that sent them running in the first place. I don’t know if the ICC is the answer, and I don’t know what type of court is or what it would need to be for all of us to agree and make it strong enough, I have no idea. And after seven years of travelling into the field, I find that I have a lot I need to learn, but I do know this: no mother who had her children killed in front of her, no Young girls sold into slavery, no boy kidnapped and forced to be a child soldier and no Young girl like the three-year-old I met in Sierra Leone who had her limbs cut off should be expected to simply forget. ”
24. August, 2007, Iraq & Syria.
Jolie has followed the situation of Iraqi refugees at a UNHCR registration center in Syria, an improvised camp in Iraq and the crossing of many at a border post between the two countries. “I have come to Syria and Iraq to help draw attention to this humanitarian crisis and to urge governments to increase their support for UNHCR and its partners. My sole purpose in both countries is to highlight the humanitarian plight of those uprooted by the war in Iraq.”.
25. October, 2008, Afghanistan.
Jolie visited the country to learn about the successes and difficulties of returnees during the local reintegration process, witnessing the country’s difficult humanitarian circumstances and urging more international support. “The courage, resilience and quiet dignity of returnee families rebuilding their lives against the kind of adversity few of us can imagine shows the human spirit at its best”, said the Ambassador after witnessing the problems faced by the returnees.
26. February, 2009, Thailand.
Jolie witnessed the difficulties faced two decades ago by Burmese refugees in closed camps in Thailand, urging the Thai government more freedom of movement for refugees so they could work or have access to higher education outside the camps. “I was saddened to meet a 21-year-old woman who was born in a refugee camp, who has never even been out of the camp and is now raising her own child in a camp”, the Ambassador said.
27. July, 2009, Iraq.
Jolie returned to Iraq to monitor the situation of internally displaced persons and told the youth and children: “You need help not because you are poor, but because you are the future of Iraq”.
28. September, 2009, Kenya.
Jolie visited Dadaab, the world’s largest refugee camp located on Kenya’s northeastern border with Somalia, describing it as one of the most awful camps she had ever known. However, she stressed the dignity and spirit of endurance and courage of its residents: “The Somali families I met today are full of warmth and affection. I wish more people could meet them, then they would have a stronger desire to help”.
29. October, 2009, Syria.
Jolie has called the international community to the thousands of Iraqi refugees still in exile are not forgotten, despite the relative improvement in the security situation in their homeland. “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. They will, therefore, be in need of continued support from the international community”.
30. February, 2010, Haiti.
Jolie said she went to the country to “listen and learn”, she visited earthquake survivors and followed the humanitarian work of local and international organizations. “I was struck by the strength and spirit of the Haitian people. Children as young as nine months old were coping with amputations with extraordinary resilience”. Before arriving in Haiti, Jolie also spent a day in the Dominican Republic to monitor the care of earthquake victims.
31. April, 2010, Bosnia & Herzegovina.
Jolie visited refugees from the conflict in former Yugoslavia, who were still living in collective centers, often in terrible conditions and for more than a decade, whose children were born in exile and were unaware of the family’s place of origin. “I have my body, but it has no soul,” said a refugee to Jolie, who, saddened by many of the things she heard, still said, “I am inspired by these families. Despite the harsh realities of their unstable existence, they have an incredible determination to build a better future for their children.”.
32. June, 2010, Ecuador.
Jolie accompanied UNHCR field operations to reach the refugee population living in remote locations in small villages and drew attention to unaccompanied minors and violence against women refugees. Single women, girls and Afro-Colombians are among the most vulnerable of the population served. The Ambassador met again some people she had met in 2002: “I am so happy to be able to reconnect with some familiar faces, refugees I had met with during my 2002 trip”.
33. August, 2010, Bosnia & Herzegovina.
Jolie returned to the country to meet with the president and discuss a number of issues, including the situation of internally displaced persons witnessed in her previous trip. According to UNHCR, the agency has been working in the country since 1992 and, during the Balkan Peninsula conflicts, it has undertaken one of the largest relief operations ever organized. Of the remaining 113,000 internally displaced persons, about 7,000 are still living in collective housing created for more than 15 years as temporary housing. Jolie urged politicians to transform the strategies related to the needs of the internally displaced persons that are contained in the peace agreement into concrete measures and with a little more urgency.
34. September, 2010, Pakistan.
Jolie highlighted the suffering of millions of flood victims who hit the country in 2010. Traveling as António Guterres’ special envoy, she visited refugee camps and settlements for internally displaced persons. The Ambassador recalled: “We must not forget flooding is not the only trauma plaguing this country. They are still rebuilding infrastructure from the earthquake of 2005. They continue to have large numbers of IDPs as a result of the conflict in the north, and host 1.7 million Afghan refugees who still need care and refuge as conflict continues in their homeland. And now, of course, the recent flooding and its aftermath already affecting millions and the looming threat of disease. Over the last three decades, Pakistan has been very generous in hosting what continues to be the largest refugee population in the world. It is now the Pakistani people themselves who are in need of large-scale assistance”.
35. December, 2010, Spain.
Together with Goodwill Ambassador Jesús Vásquez, Jolie paid tribute to the UNHCR team for the agency’s 60th anniversary. “I would like to highlight the strength and courage of the world’s refugees and [other] forcibly displaced people who are, for all of us, an example of generosity and dignity. My thoughts go also to the dedicated UNHCR staff, who for many years have risked their lives to protect the lives of refugees.”. The actress also discussed Spain’s refuge system, migratory flows in the country and resettlement.
36. March, 2011, Afghanistan.
In this mission, Jolie met internally displaced persons and refugees repatriated, who still had difficulties to survive and to reintegrate to the society with dignity, even almost ten years after returning to the native land. “The focus needs to be put now on reintegration, and that means not just putting up shelter but making sure there is water, job opportunities, a school for the children and medical clinics”, she said. Jolie rejoined Khanum, who during her 2008 visit had just given birth to Samir: “It was very distressing to see that, because of the poor conditions, Samir seems to be suffering some form of developmental delay due to malnutrition or lack of medical care. He can’t walk and is barely surviving in what can only be described as a very cold and damp warehouse”, Jolie said. “It is difficult to define in which situation to focus, which needs more attention, who are the most vulnerable. And I think it is a shame to identify one person as the most vulnerable or one situation as the most terrible because there is no comparisons, there are so many situations going in the world, we are concerned about people in Ivory Coast, people in Libya, we are concerned about their right for safe passage, the right to seek asylum, whether they will be granted that right, whether they will be given safety at this time. And we are concerned about the people left here in this situation for so many years, and there are so many unmet needs, much to be done”.
37. April, 2011, Tunisia.
Jolie visited the country to highlight the situation of some 440,000 people who fled Libya because of the conflicts in the Arab Spring. More than half went to Tunisia, mostly immigrants working in Libya, but also about 2,500 people from countries affected by conflict. The Ambassador visited the Choucha transit camp, which housed over 7,000 people at the time, including Egyptians, Chadians, Eritreans, Somalis, etc. “It was a well managed camp despite the challenges of addressing different cultural backgrounds and finding different solutions for them. Not everyone can get on a plane and go home, and you have to manage the expectations of those who stay behind”. Jolie met a Somali family who was forced to move continuously for eighteen years. They fled for the first time to the Middle East, but were sent back. So they tried to escape from Somalia by boat, but were imprisoned in Libya for five months, even the small five-year-old daughter. Then, newcomers to Choucha’s camp, they were comforted by Jolie: “I hope this is the final place before you find the country where you can finally be at home and stop having to keep moving”.
38. June, 2011, Turkey.
Jolie was able to follow the first flows of refugees generated by the conflict in Syria. At the time, there were 9,600 people living in four refugee camps managed by Turkey with the Turkish Red Crescent. Currently, the Syrian population in Turkey is about 100 thousand people. In one camp, Jolie met a woman who managed to leave Syria pregnant after the murder of her husband, giving birth to her son in the camp. When Jolie arrived on the field, a crowd of children with “freedom” painted on their foreheads welcomed her. The actress also highlighted the relevance of UNHCR’s global campaign, “one is too many” to the crisis in Syria: “In the campaign we highlighted the fact that one refugee without shelter is too many, and in this latest displacement crisis we are seeing thousands in need and there may be many more in Syria yet to receive help. These people deserve and need our help”.
39. June, 2011, Malta & Italy.
Jolie and High Commissioner António Guterres met on a small Italian island with people who fled Africa by boat, including unaccompanied minors, and also reminded those who lost their lives on the way. Jolie and Guterres visited the Europe Door, a stone gate near the sea where hundreds of boats arrive with immigrants from North Africa, including refugees and asylum seekers. Only in the first half of 2011, more than 40,000 people ventured into overcrowded boats to reach Lampedusa, with more than 1,500 dead in the attempt. “When I think of these people, these families, I try to imagine what would bring someone – for example a mother with children – to make this journey. What kind of a life she must have lived, what she must have suffered, to be brought to a point where her last resort is to step onto an overcrowded rickety boat. What must her life be like that the best alternative is to risk drowning and suffocation . . . only to be brought to a new country where she may be turned away. Sent back to sea,” she said, adding: “Very few of us here today can even begin to understand what kind of painful existence she must have led.”, Jolie said.
