Angelina Jolie visits Jordan’s Za’atari refugee camp

CAIRO – 1 February 2018: Actress, director, humanitarian and mother Angelina Jolie visited Jordan’s Za’atari refugee camp last Sunday, under her role as a special envoy for the UNHCR.

Jolie took her daughters, Zahara (13) and Shiloh (11), along with her while she visited the camp. “My daughters Zahara and Shiloh asked to come with me today—they’ve spent time today speaking and playing with children their own age who have been forced from their homes, whose family members have been killed or have disappeared, and who are struggling with trauma and illness, but who at the end of the day are just children, with the same hopes and rights as children in any other nation,” Jolie said in a statement released on the UNHCR website.

The Za’atari refugee camp, which is occupied by more than 80,000 Syrians, is the largest refugee camp in the Middle East region.

“We should never forget that the war began with demands by Syrians for greater human rights. Peace in their country has to be built on that.” - Angelina Jolie, today in Zaatari Camp, Jordan. “It cannot be built on impunity for the targeting of civilians by all sides of the conflict, the bombing of schools and hospitals, barrel bombs, torture, chemical weapons and rape used as a weapon of war." . “So, that is my message to the international community today: yes, of course, please do more to help meet the needs of desperate Syrian families and the countries hosting them. But, above all, please provide the leadership and strength needed to negotiate a principled end to this senseless war – without sacrificing the dignity and human rights of Syrian families. That is non-negotiable.” On her fifth visit to Jordan since the beginning of the crisis, UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie visited refugee families living in Za’atari camp, the largest refugee settlement in the Middle East and home to more than 80,000 Syrians. Almost seven years since the start of the conflict, more than 6 million people remain displaced inside Syria and a further 5.48 million have fled to other countries in the region, creating the biggest refugee crisis since the end of World War II. Photo: UNHCR/ @ivorprickett #AngelinaJolie #zaataricamp #jordan #syria #refugees #peace #war #dignity #shilohjoliepitt #zaharajoliepitt #humanrights

A post shared by UN Refugee Agency (@refugees) on Jan 28, 2018 at 12:01pm PST

“We should never forget that the war began with demands by Syrians for greater human rights,” she told a news conference at the camp.

“Peace in their country has to be built on that,” Jolie said. “So that is my message to the international community today: yes, of course, please do more to help meet the needs of desperate Syrian families and the countries hosting them. But above all, please provide the leadership and strength needed to negotiate a principled end to this senseless war – without sacrificing the dignity and human rights of Syrian families. That is non-negotiable.”

Seven years since the Syrian conflict began, 6 million people have been displaced in Syria and 5.48 million seek refuge in nearby countries, making it the largest refugee crisis since the end of World War II, according to UNHCR.