[youtube]JI_7wRks_7U[/youtube]
Angelina Jolie Visits Refugees in Malta & Lampedusa
Angelina Jolie and UN Refugee Chief Meet with Boat People on Lampedusa
On the eve of this year’s World Refugee Day, Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie joined the United Nations refugee chief on a visit on Sunday to Lampedusa, where they met some of the tens of thousands of people who have crossed the Mediterranean and descended on the small Italian island after fleeing unrest in North Africa.
More than 40,000 people, including refugees and asylum-seekers, have arrived by boat to Lampedusa since the beginning of this year, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
They include economic migrants from Tunisia, as well as those seeking international protection, including refugees from sub-Saharan Africa and Libya, where fighting continues between Government forces and rebel groups seeking the ouster of Colonel Muammar al-Qadhafi.
While in Lampedusa, Ms. Jolie, who serves as a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN refugee agency, and High Commissioner António Guterres had a chance to visit detention facilities to see the crowded conditions faced by new arrivals.
The actress arrived in Lampedusa from Malta, which has also been a destination for people fleeing North Africa by boat. She visited Lyster Barracks, a former Royal Air Force facility and now a detention centre for asylum-seekers, many of whom who have fled the violence in Libya. They include Somalis, Ethiopians and others from sub-Saharan Africa.
“Malta has saved many lives, but it is the daily conditions on the ground that are of most concern,” she stated while in Malta.
“We’ve spoken about our shared concerns about making sure asylum claims are processed as quickly as possible so no one is sitting in a prison-like situation and waiting on a decision about their status, “she added. “They are not asking to go to any particular country, they just want to find safety to work, and to have freedom.”
She also visited an open centre near Malta’s main airport where vulnerable asylum-seekers are living in tents inside an old aircraft hangar while their asylum claims are assessed. The people she met there said living conditions were difficult and they were concerned about the pools of fuel on the ground and rats chewing their tents.
On Friday, Ms. Jolie traveled to a refugee camp in Turkey where she visited with Syrians who had fled the violence in their country. There are now over 9,600 Syrian refugees living in four camps managed by Turkey and the Turkish Red Crescent along the border area.
Syrian authorities have been widely criticised for their bloody repression of the protests that began earlier this year, part of a broader uprising in recent months across North Africa and the Middle East that has already toppled the long-standing regimes in Tunisia and Egypt.
UNHCR is set to mark World Refugee Day on 20 June with events in locations worldwide and the launch of a new global awareness campaign entitled “One” that will be rolled out over the course of the week.
Over the next six months it will increase awareness about the forcibly displaced and stateless by telling their powerful personal stories. The campaign will carry the message that “One Refugee Without Hope is too Many.”
The Italian capital of Rome will be the focus of this year’s events on Monday, with Mr. Guterres due to present UNHCR’s annual statistics report on the number of people of concern to the agency. He will also preside over a special commemorative event that will be attended by President Giorgio Napolitano and six refugees, including a Polish survivor of the Holocaust in World War II.
Rome’s ancient Colosseum will again be bathed in UN blue, one of many monuments around the world to be lit up to mark the occasion, including the iconic Empire State Building in New York.
UN News Center
Angelina Jolie Calls for Continued Support to Populations Fleeing Libya and Humanitarian Access to Those Inside
RAS ADJIR, Tunisia The UN refugee agencys Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie travelled on Tuesday morning to the Tunisian-Libyan border to urge greater international support for people fleeing Libya.
More than 400,000 people have escaped the violence in Libya in the last month, arriving in surrounding countries such as Tunisia, Egypt, Niger, Algeria, Chad and Sudan. Tunisia alone has received more than half of the outflow from Libya and has mobilized an outstanding relief operation.
The outpouring of generosity from the Tunisian people says so much for the future of this country, said UNHCRs Goodwill Ambassador. It is a sign of the openness sweeping across the region.
At the end of February, transit facilities were erected 7 km inside Tunisia to provide temporary shelter. At the same time, UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration began helping migrants home with a humanitarian air evacuation. Today, over 70,000 people have reached home safely with help from UNHCR and IOM, but more continue to arrive. Some 11,000 third country nationals are still in transit.
The international community has done well to reinforce Tunisias remarkable relief effort, said Jolie. But with 2,000 people still crossing each day, we cannot let the funding dry up and need to sustain the momentum.
During the visit, an important contribution is being made by the Jolie-Pitt Foundation to help sustain the humanitarian evacuations being carried out. The Foundation covered the costs for a flight of 177 persons to return to their countries of origin and purchased an ambulance to help support Tunisian efforts on the border to assist the injured arriving from Libya.
We would encourage others, individuals and governments, to continue to support and assist with the needs on the ground, said Jolie.
While migrants make up the majority of these new arrivals, there are also some 2,500 people from war-torn countries who are unable to return home and thus require international protection.
Theyre waiting here with little hope, unable to return home and unsure of whats to come. This constant cycle of displacement must finally come to an end, said Jolie.
In conversations on Tuesday with people who had recently left Libya, UNHCRs Goodwill Ambassador was told of heavy fighting inside the country. She listened to harrowing stories of checkpoints, harassment and assaults. She appealed for measures that would allow the UN and non-governmental organizations to access Libya, and to distribute urgent assistance, including food and medical supplies.
Jolie also heard dramatic accounts of eastern and sub-Saharan Africans being deliberately targeted inside Libya. Many remain in hiding in desperate conditions, unable to move for fear of violence. Jolie called for a humanitarian corridor to facilitate the safe access of these populations to points of refuge.
Without this corridor, thousands of eastern and sub-Saharan Africans are escaping Libya by sea, relying on unseaworthy vessels organized by smugglers. In recent weeks, there have been several landings on the small Italian island of Lampedusa as well as interceptions off the coast of Tunisia. There are also reports of some people not surviving the perilous journey across the Mediterranean.
UNHCR