Angelina Jolie UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador visited the Colombian refugees living in Ecuador.
UNHCR goodwill ambassador Angelina Jolie leaves a private meeting with Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa in Shushufindi June 18, 2010.
source : reuters
UNHCR goodwill ambassador Angelina Jolie boards an Ecuadorean army helicopter shortly after a private meeting with Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa in Shushufindi June 18, 2010.
and I uploaded Live Streaming video of WRD-Live
Angelina Jolie reported for Ecuador.
WASHINGTON, DC, United States, June 18 (UNHCR) – UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie, High Commissioner António Guterres and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took part Friday in a unique live video event linking four locations around the world to mark World Refugee Day.
The event was held in the Benjamin Franklin room on the top floor of the US State Department in Washington, DC, and included participants linked from Ecuador, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Syria.
Addressing the audience of 250 people, media and those watching via the internet, Clinton said: “I hope we can use this day to honour the courage and resilience of the millions of refuges around the world who push forward each and every day with the hope that tomorrow might bring a return home or the hope of a better life. I certainly intend to remain committed to making that hope a reality.”
UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie joined the proceedings from the remote community of Berranca Bermeja in northern Ecuador, which is home to a small group of Colombian refugees.
Jolie, who first visited Ecuador for UNHCR in 2002, said the refugees, though isolated, were now receiving regular support and assistance from the refugee agency. “I have noticed a great deal of change here,” she said. “UNHCR has done extraordinary work. The field officers have been getting out into the Amazon and going up and down the river. They’ve registered now 50,000 refugees who are so grateful. It’s a very moving story.”
Sitting among refugees in Al Hassakeh governorate (province) in northern Syria, High Commissioner Guterres praised the generosity of the Syrian people who continue to host more than 1 million refugees from Iraq. In contrast, he said, “increasing numbers of countries are closing their borders” to refugees.
The programme also linked to a settlement for internally displaced people near the town of Dungu in north eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Nearly 2 million Congolese have fled their homes as a result of continuing violence. UNHCR staffer Jorge Holly spoke to a man whose family had fled their home to escape violence by the Lord’s Resistance Army, a brutal Ugandan militia group infamous for its attacks on civilians.
LAGO AGRÍO, Ecuador, June 18 (UNHCR)- UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie has returned to northern Ecuador to see how the situation has changed since she was last in the country eight years ago and to raise awareness about unaccompanied minors and violence against female refugees.
The award-winning actress, who arrived in the city of Lago Agrío on Thursday, visited UNHCR field operations and the isolated community of Barranca Bermeja, located in thick jungle on the banks of the San Miguel River, which marks the border with Colombia. The little village hosts 34 families, most of them refugees from the violence that has plagued parts of Colombia for decades.
In Lago Agrío, capital of Sucumbíos province, she had a reunion with a Colombian mother whom Jolie last met here in 2002. “At that time she had a lot of hope for her future,” the Goodwill Ambassador recalled, while adding: “She was recently treated for cancer. She still holds on to hope.”
The award-winning actress also met with refugee women in a shelter for victims of domestic violence, which is a serious problem in the region.
Some of the women in the centre, run by the Women´s Federation of Sucumbíos, told harrowing tales of beatings, incest and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence. Some women even have to resort to “survival sex” to get lodging to feed their children. Others fall prey to sexual exploitation.
In Barranca Bermeja, Jolie spent time with the community and was impressed by their mental strength in coping with the suffering they had endured in Colombia. One woman fled after two of her family were killed – she did not want to lose any more of her children.
There are around 51,000 registered Colombian refugees in Ecuador, but UNHCR estimates that about 135,000 people are in need of international protection. This makes Ecuador the country with the largest refugee population in Latin America. Many of the Colombians live in remote settlements in the north, like Barranca Bermeja, often too scared to seek help from UNHCR and its partners.
“It’s been eight years since I was last here and UNHCR’s presence has grown considerably,” Jolie noted after her arrival in Ecuador. “They are going into the thickest parts of the jungle to reach the refugees, who are living in very remote locations and in desperate conditions,” she added.
“I wanted to come back and meet with vulnerable people and focus on violence against women and unaccompanied minors,” Jolie explained. “I am so happy to be able to reconnect with some familiar faces, refugees I had met with during my 2002 trip.” Single women, girls and Afro-Colombians are among the most vulnerable of the refugee population.
Jolie will be taking part on Friday (14:00 GMT) in a global live video link from northern Ecuador with Washington, DC, Damascus in Syria and Dungu in north-east Congo. The event, which includes refugees as well as High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is one of UNHCR’s top World Refugee Day events this year.
By Sonia Aguilar and Marie-Noelle Little-Boyer in Lago Agrío, Ecuador unhcr
This year’s World Refugee Day on June 20 has as its theme, “Home,” in recognition of the plight of more than 40 million uprooted people around the world. Around 10 million of them are refugees of special concern to UNHCR.
At UNHCR we help people find new homes and new futures through resettlement, through voluntary repatriation and through local integration. Most of the time, and where it’s possible, refugees prefer to return to their home countries. Nonetheless, and with conflict continuing or escalating in many countries, finding new homes and allowing people to restart their lives is increasingly difficult.
This year, for World Refugee Day, we are planning events around the world to highlight the plight of refugees under our care and to advocate on their behalf for the help they need. We will be asking you to think about what it means to be one of those millions of individual human beings. And we will ask you to contribute in whatever way you can to helping them rebuild their lives.
Help us help them to find a place to call home.
MORE READ http://unhcr.org/
and World Refugee Day 2010 LIVE to JUNE 16,18,20
information & schedule
http://wrdlive.org/
June 16, 2010, Wednesday
8:30 AM EST / 1:30 PM GMT
Live online interview with Susan, a Chin refugee and humanitarian worker in Kuala Lumpur.
June 18, 2010, Friday
10:00 AM EST / 3:00 PM GMT
Live feed between High Commissioner, António Guterres, in Damascus, Syria, and an audience in Washington, D.C.
Part of a commemorative event in the United States capital
June 20, 2010, Sunday
3:00 AM EST / 8:00 AM GMT
Press conference with the High Commissioner and outreach workers broadcast live.
GENEVA, April 19 (UNHCR) – UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie on Monday expressed her concern for the lives and the well-being of thousands of displaced people who are trapped in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu.
More than 170,000 Somalis have been forced from their homes across the country since the beginning of the year. Scores have been killed or injured in recent weeks amid some of the bloodiest fighting to date.
“I am deeply troubled by the complete and utter disregard for human life in Somalia,” Jolie said in a statement released by the UN refugee agency. “Another tragedy is unfolding in Somalia as street battles rage on in Mogadishu, causing incredible suffering, massive displacement and loss of life.”
While thousands of civilians have fled Mogadishu, many others stay behind, displaced and without any means to leave the beleaguered city and the waves of violence between government forces and the Al-Shabaab militia.
“I fear for their lives,” said Jolie. “I appeal to those who carry on fighting not to shell and target civilian neighbourhoods.”
The UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador, who met Somali refugees last September in north-east Kenya, added her voice to recent calls by High Commissioner Antònio Guterres for more international attention and help for the needy and vulnerable population in Somalia. Continued fighting and general insecurity make it extremely difficult for aid agencies to access and assist the displaced population.
Last week the refugee agency said it was shocked by the further loss of civilian lives in Mogadishu after more than 30 people were reported killed in the city, including children. Residents described last week’s shelling as among the worst in months.
“It is unacceptable that the conflict in Somalia continues to be conducted without respect for the safety of civilians and in clear violation of international humanitarian and human rights principles,” UNHCR’s chief spokesperson, Melissa Fleming, told journalists last Friday in Geneva.
Somalia is one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world today with half the population in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. There are more than 1.4 million Somalis displaced inside the country and some 570,000 live as refugees in the region.
Press Releases, 19 April 2010 UNHCR.org
ANGELINA JOLIE VISITS ‘ONE OF THE MOST DIRE ‘ REFUGEE CAMPS AT KENYAN-SOMALI BORDER : Spt.2009
SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina, April 6 (UNHCR) – UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie has called for steps to end the continuing suffering of displaced victims of the Bosnian War after hearing their harrowing tales and seeing their grim living conditions during a brief visit this week.
Jolie, travelling with her partner Brad Pitt, on Monday took a break from filming to visit Bosnia and Herzegovina and highlight the plight of 113,000 Bosnians and 7,000 refugees from Croatia. These people were forced from their homes during the violent break-up of the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s and many of them are living in collective centres, often in appalling conditions.
The acclaimed actress was clearly moved by the spirit – and the suffering – of the people she met and she pledged to highlight their case. Most of the people she talked to have been living far from home for well over a decade. Many of their children were born in exile and have never seen where their families come from.
Jolie kicked off her first trip to Bosnia and Herzegovina by visiting a crumbling and dilapidated collective centre in the eastern town of Gorazde, which lies on the Drina River and was a UN-protected enclave throughout the 1992-1995 war. She and Pitt visited another collective centre housing displaced people in Rogatica, where the inhabitants told the couple about the daily hardships they endure, including a lack of basic services such as running water.
“After seeing these people and hearing their stories, I cannot overemphasize the need to focus on the well-being of the most vulnerable individuals of the population,” Jolie said, adding that by “ending displacement and ensuring quality of life, we can help to promote progress and long-term stability.”
Among these “most vulnerable individuals” were a group of internally displaced women who suffered very bad experiences during the war. While Pitt went off to speak to their menfolk, Jolie spent some private time with the women.
After the meeting, an emotional Jolie said they had told her about the ordeal they had suffered before escaping to Gorazde during the war, including rape and torture. “I have my body, but it no longer has a soul,” one woman told her.
Jolie also met a family who had returned to their home village near the eastern Bosnian town of Visegrad and were trying to rebuild their lives with help from the UN refugee agency and local authorities. The area saw some of the worst atrocities of the war.
Their house has been reconstructed, but it still lacks running water, electricity and other essential infrastructure. So the parents and their four young children have had to bunk up in a house owned by relatives in a village three kilometres away.
The mother, Maja,* was taken aback when she recognized their celebrity guests and invited them into their humble home. When she had recovered her composure, she told Jolie and Pitt about the challenges they face.
But while Jolie was saddened by many of the things she heard, the Goodwill Ambassador said she was “so inspired by these families. Despite the grim realities of their unsettled existence, they have an incredible determination to make a better future for their children.”
And she promised to help spread awareness about their forgotten and protracted situation. Jolie said she hoped “to return to this beautiful country soon and meet with political representatives to further discuss the solutions that are so badly required.”
Looking to the future, she noted that “Bosnia and Herzegovina now has the opportunity to move forward by ending displacement and further capitalizing on the EU [European Union] accession process. The local leadership has the ultimate responsibility to make choices to ensure that this will happen.”
The conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina forced more than 2.2 million people to flee their homes, making it the largest displacement of people in Europe since the end of World War II. The suffering continues to this day for many.
To date, more than 1 million people have returned home across Bosnia, with UNHCR playing a major role in the return, reconstruction and reintegration process. For those who remain displaced, many are elderly or ill and barely able to look after themselves. They have specific needs, including institutional care such as social housing, geriatric and mental health institutions or hospitals. UNHCR.org
