Photo by Denis Makarenko / Shutterstock.com
Angelina Jolie has taken part in the first TIME 100 Talks: Finding Hope event to share her views on the coronavirus pandemic.
The filmmaker and UNHCR Special Envoy was one of a number of TIME’s most influential people including musician John Legend and French artist JR who joined the virtual conversation with editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal, using her platform to highlight the impact the current crisis is having on children and refugees.
“Long before the virus, we had so many children in need across the world, ” she begins.
Jolie explains that the numbers are rapidly rising and that the World Food Bank is warning of a famine of “biblical proportions.”
TIME editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal with Angelina Jolie for the Time 100 Talks on YouTube.
She also highlighted the dangers children face when they are locked down with an abuser.
“I believe it was even, last checked, it was about 40 per cent less call ins and reports of child abuse and we know it didn’t go away.”
She explains how devastating these figures are because “it means these kids are trapped, nobody can see them.”
Jolie describes how her UNHCR colleagues are still working out on the field across 128 countries and the difficulties they face in keeping refugee camps safe through “sanitation stations and hand washing.”
Perhaps, the most significant moment in Jolie’s talk came towards the end when she questions what “equality” really means:
“You believe all people are equal? Then you can’t be okay with how so many people are being treated. This is a time for outrage, for grand change across the world.”
She ends her talk by explaining that even though the impacts of the coronavirus on children and refugees is catastrophic, she is holding onto hope:
“I believe in humanity. I have hope and I think we really can’t afford not to have hope. I think when people are aware and can have a path guiding them and telling them what to do, they will.”
You can watch the conversation below:
“This is a time for outrage.” Angelina Jolie discusses how coronavirus is harming children across the world https://t.co/G8CUcCCsFL #TIME100Talks pic.twitter.com/FUTF3NveLM
— TIME (@TIME) April 28, 2020