Angelina Jolie urges global attention on Syrian refugees

Global icon, Angelina Jolie has directed the spotlight onto the Syrian conflict, calling on world leaders to deliver what has been promised to refugees.

In a press conference held at a refugee camp in Jordan on Friday, the actress shone a light on the thousands of refugees that have suffered loss and trauma in camps, as well as those stranded across the region.

 "It is almost impossible to fathom what the last five years have meant, in the lives of refugees in Jordan and elsewhere in the region," Jolie Pitt, 41, said. "Not a single family in this camp of 60,000 people has not suffered loss and trauma. 

"But as difficult as conditions are, refugees here count themselves among the lucky ones. Besides the millions trapped inside Syria whose lives are at risk daily, 75,000 Syrians are stranded in the Berm – a no-man’s land on the Jordanian border – including children, pregnant women, and gravely ill patients. 

"They have had no food delivery since early August. There is next to no humanitarian access whatsoever. There is no mechanism for evacuating the war wounded. None of the basic protections under international humanitarian law are being applied."

Addressing world leaders preparing to gather at the UN General Assembly, Jolise urged them to "ask that the fundamental root causes of the Syria conflict, and what it will take to end it"

Addressing world leaders preparing to gather at the UN General Assembly, Jolise urged them to "ask that the fundamental root causes of the Syria conflict, and what it will take to end it, are put at the centre of the discussion," she said.

Jolie said the UNHCR and other agencies had received only half of the funds needed from donors to provide humanitarian assistance to refugees during Syria's brutal five-year-old conflict.

"Any increase in humanitarian funding saves lives and is deeply appreciated as well as absolutely necessary. But let’s be clear: aid workers here are still waiting for what was promised at the last conference."  

Jordan hosts more than 600,000 Syrian refugees according to the United Nations, a figure Amman puts at 1.4 million.