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Angelina Jolie gives voice to Palestinian refugees in Jordan
UNHCR
Goodwill Ambassador Anglina Jolie visiting refugee children at a
healthcare centre in Ruwaished camp, Jordan (Photo:
UNHCR/B.Bronee, 2003)
In
December 2003, UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie visited
Ruweished refugee camp in eastern Jordan. Jolie, who has been a UNHCR
Goodwill Ambassador since August 2001 wrote a journal which has been
released today by the UN refugee agency.
During
her one day visit to Ruweished refugee camp, where more than 800
refugees, mostly Palestinians, have settled after fleeing Iraq in
April 2003. The actress, who starred in Gone In 60 Seconds, as Lara
Croft in Tomb Raider and can soon be seen in Taking Lives and
Alexander visited the camp’s pre-school. The children at the school
told her “their dream is to see their homeland. To live as citizens
of a country they belong to.”
Jolie
noted that most of them aspired to be doctors and teachers. She asked
one boy why he wanted to be a lawyer. He replied: “To make justice
for people, there needs to be more justice.”
Before
leaving Ruweished, Jolie attended a community meeting for people to
voice their problems and concerns. UNHCR said that it remains
concerned about the fate of Palestinian refugees in the border sites.
Some have travel documents issued by Egypt and Lebanon, while the
majority hold Iraqi resident permits. The Palestinian Authority
apparently told UNHCR that it is willing to accept Palestinians
seeking to go to the West Bank and Gaza.
UNHCR
spokesperson Kris Janowski, who spoke at a press briefing during
Jolie’s visit to Jordan, said that Jordan has said that it wants to
see the Ruweished camps closed. All the refugees are living under
tents in wintry conditions out in the desert zone.
The
Jordanian government has announced plans to close Ruwaished camp soon
and to move refugees to makeshift camps in the no man’s land
between Jordan and Iraq, where more than 1,000 people – mostly
Iranian Kurds – have been stranded since April. UNHCR has advised
the Jordanian government against the premature closure, and stepped
up efforts to find solutions for the refugees.
Meeting
refugee representatives and visiting a school and healthcare centre
at the camp, Jolie noted, “The children sang songs of pride and
longing for their homeland. It was very moving to hear them speak of
the dream to have a place called home one day.”
A
compilation of Jolie’s journlas between February 2001 and June 2002
were published by Simon and Schuster. The book, “Notes from My
Travels: Visits with Refugees in Africa, Cambodia, Pakistan and
Ecuador”, offers insight on refugee life, detailing Jolie’s
experiences over a year of travels with the UN refugee agency.
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