London: Actor-activist Angelina Jolie has urged the world community to unite to fight the global refugee crisis that has rendered millions of people homeless and vulnerable.
The 43-year-old actor, who serves as Special Envoy to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, in a special essay for The Economist, wrote the humanitarian support for refugees is chronically underfunded. “The number of refugees worldwide has climbed for six consecutive years. Some 68m people are now displaced by violence and persecution-equal to a fifth of the population of America, nearly half that of Russia, and more than the entire population of the United Kingdom,” Jolie wrote on the World Refugee Day, Wednesday.
The “Maleficent” star condemned nations fighting back against helping the millions of refugees around the world amid the criticism of US President Donald Trump’s new “zero-tolerance policy” against illegal immigrants that has resulted in the separation of over 2,500 children from their parents at the US border to Mexico, since its implementation in April. Jolie said there was a need for people and nations to work together to prevent and resolve conflicts. “It is not surprising that there is deep public concern: not because people are heartless, but because this is not a sustainable situation. But the answer is not countries adopting harsh unilateral measures that target refugees, and run counter to our values and our responsibilities. That will only inflame the problem.”
