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As the Ukrainian-Russian conflict unfolds, Angelina Jolie wants people to support refugees of other humanitarian crises as they have been with the people of Ukraine.
Yesterday, Jolie, who serves as special envoy for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, landed in Yemen to meet with displaced families suffering from the ongoing civil war.
She announced her arrival to the Yemeni city of Aden by posting aerial shots of refugee camps and photos of destroyed buildings to Instagram. “This week a million people were forced to flee the horrific war in Ukraine,” a statement read. “If we learn anything from this shocking situation, it is that we cannot be selective about who deserves support and whose rights we defend. Everyone deserves the same compassion. The lives of civilian victims of conflict everywhere are of equal value. After seven years of war, the people of Yemen also need protection, support, and above all, peace.”
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The actress elaborated further in the caption.
“I’ve landed in Aden, to meet displaced families and refugees for UNHCR @refugees and show my support for the people of Yemen. I will do my best to communicate from the ground as the days unfold,” Jolie wrote. “As we continue to watch the horrors unfolding in Ukraine, and call for an immediate end to the conflict and humanitarian access, I’m here in Yemen to support people who also desperately need peace. The situation here is one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, with one civilian killed or injured every hour in 2022. An economy devastated by war, and over 20 million Yeminis depending on humanitarian assistance to survive.”
Jolie has previously spoken out about the crisis in Yemen. In a 2018 speech, she appealed the United Nations Security Council to urge for a ceasefire and to negotiate an end to the war.
“As an international community we have been shamefully slow to act to end the crisis in Yemen,” she said. “We have watched the situation deteriorate to the point that Yemen is now on the brink of man-made famine, and facing the worst cholera epidemic in the world in decades. When conflict develops to this extent, many people have no choice but to flee if they are to have any chance of survival. The only way to enable refugees to return home, and to bring down the overall numbers worldwide, is to end conflicts themselves.”
In 2020, the actress also donated an undisclosed amount to a lemonade stand run by two boys who were fundraising for Yemen.
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