Angelina Jolie Writes NYT Op-Ed on Visiting Syria and Iraq: “Nothing Prepares You”

Angelina Jolie is calling on the international community to help refugees in Syria and Iraq.

The Unbroken director visited refugee camp near Dohuk, Iraq on Sunday, and wrote about her experiences in an op-ed for The New York Times, in which she called on more to be done.

“For many years I have visited camps, and every time, I sit in a tent and hear stories. I try my best to give support,” Jolie wrote. “To say something that will show solidarity and give some kind of thoughtful guidance. On this trip I was speechless.”

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Jolie, who is known for her activism, recounted meeting a crying mother who said her daughter was kidnapped by ISIS, and that she wished she was with her, even if it meant being tortured or raped.

“Nothing prepares you for the reality of so much individual human misery: for the stories of suffering and death, and the gaze of hungry, traumatized children,” Jolie wrote.

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Jolie, who is a special envoy of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, wrote that “more assistance” was needed to help countires bordering Syria aid the refugees. She also said countries around the world should offer a safe home for those “most vulnuerable,” such as those who have been tortured or raped.

“And above all, the international community as a whole has to find a path to a peace settlement,” Jolie wrote. “It is not enough to defend our values at home, in our newspapers and in our institutions. We also have to defend them in the refugee camps of the Middle East, and the ruined ghost towns of Syria.”