The actress and special envoy for the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Angelina Jolie is once again speaking on the plight of Syrian refugees.
In an essay for Time Magazine, Jolie shares her experiences traveling to visit refugees, some of whom survived Isis attacks.
She wrote: “A few months into the Syrian conflict in 2011, I visited the Jordanian border at night, where shell-shocked Syrian families were crossing under cover of darkness to avoid sniper fire. A medic at the border post told me about a family who'd recently arrived. They carried with them their wounded 8-year-old son and his amputated leg. His leg had been severed in an airstrike. He'd begged them to bring it with them as they fled, in the hope that it could somehow be reattached.”
Jolie continued: “At the time, I hoped that stories like his might force the world's rich and mighty countries to intervene to stop the violence. But now, nearly a decade later, it strikes me as a metaphor for the Syrian conflict itself: the shattered innocence of a generation of children; the irreversible damage inflicted upon a secular, multiethnic society; and the years of pleas for help that have gone unanswered.”
Jolie begged for the help from the U.S.: “When did we stop wanting to stand up for the underdog, for the innocent, for those fighting for their human rights? And what kind of country would we be if we abandoned that principle? There is a lot of focus in America today on self-preservation.”
“We're watching the brutal endgame of the war in Syria as if it has little to do with us. But it does,” she wrote. “We should be using our diplomatic power to insist on a cease-fire and a negotiated peace based on at least some measure of political participation, accountability and the conditions for the safe return of refugees.”