Hollywood star and UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie is using her platform to highlight the global refugee crisis and the need for all refugees to be treated equally.
Taking to Instagram, which Angelina uses to raise the voices of marginalised or vulnerable communities, she points out that 1 million people have now fled Ukraine following the Vladimir Putin-led Russian invasion of the country, and it means the refugee crisis is only getting worse:
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“Before a single Ukrainian refugee crossed the border, there were already more than 82 million people forced form their homes globally – the highest number on record,” she writes.
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“They include over 6 million Syrians – the world’s largest population of refugees – who’ve been displaced for over a decade already. And over 1 million Rohingyas from Myanmar – who as well as being forcibly displaced, are also stateless.”
Angelina goes on to acknowledge the 48 million people who’ve fled their homes and are internally displaced, within their own countries: “in Yemen, in Somalia, in Afghanistan, in Ethiopia, and in so many other places.”
She ends her message with a powerful reminder to us all: “All refugees and displaced people deserve equal treatment and rights.”
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Angelina has been working with the UNHCR for more than 20 years, advocating for millions of refugees around the world – first as a Goodwill Ambassador between 2001 and 2012, then expanding her role to Special Envoy.
During her two decades with UNHCR, Angelina has represented the humanitarian organisation at the diplomatic level focusing on major crises which have lead to mass population displacements, from conflict in Syria and Yemen to floods in Pakistan and the global coronavirus pandemic.
She joined social media for the first time last year to help amplify the voices of the women of Afghanistan who are once again living under Taliban rule and urge her followers to continue learning about the situation and take up the fight for basic human rights.
She also released a book in collaboration with Amnesty International called Know Your Rights and Claim Them, which teaches children and young adults how to deal with injustice.
(Feature Image Credit: Denis Makarenko/Shutterstock)