Co-Chair Angelina Jolie Visits Children in Iraq

Here are some of my reflections from my recent trip to Iraq in early February. They are excerpts from my conversations with Arwa Damon from CNN.
You can watch the full interview here.

… I came to the region about 6 months ago. I first went to Syria because I work with UNHCR and there are 1.5 million refugees in Syria alone from Iraq. This trip is to get a better picture of the internally displaced people and to discuss with the local government, with our government, with the NGOs and with local people, the situation and try to understand what is happening. There are over 2 million internally displaced people and there doesn't seem to be a real coherent plan to help them. There's lots of good will and lot's of discussion --but there seem to be a lot of talk at the moment and a lot of pieces need to be put together.

… In my research before I came here, I looked at the numbers and there are over 4 million people displaced and of the 2 million internally displaced. It's estimated that 58 percent are under 12 years old. So it's a very high number of people in a very, very vulnerable situation and a lot of young kids. So far the different U.S. officials I've met with and different local people I've met with all have shared concerns and very, very strongly. You know they have spoken out about the humanitarian crisis but there seems to be a block in.

I'm not good at policy and fixing all this and saying what's wrong but I do know that for example UNHCR needs to be more active inside Iraq. In order for that to happen, they need they feel strongly about having some better protection ... better security in talking with the U.S. officials, they're willing to give that security to the extent that they can give it.

And so you know I don't have the answers but I know that this is one thing that needs to be addressed and solved because there does need to be a real presence here to help count the people and register the people. Also even just the government here needs to empower the prime minister ... to empower the government that deals with migration and displacement to be able to address the concerns for these people. And that hasn't happened in a significant way yet.

… I think the global community always has a responsibility to any humanitarian crisis. And I think it's in our best interest to address a humanitarian crisis on this scale because displacement can lead to a lot of instability and aggression and you know -- pop. We certainly don't want that. We have a lot of people [who] feel it's a little calmer now ... this is the time to really discuss and try to get these communities back together. But if these communities don't start coming back together properly, if we don't start really counting the people ... understanding where they are ... what they need ... making sure the schools are being built ... making sure the electricity ... the water and all these needs are being met -- and also understanding that a lot of the people that will return are going to come back to houses that are occupied or destroyed and bombed... It's going to be a big operation to understand the needs [and] to address it to help people put the pieces of their life back together and return to their communities.

…If it [Iraq] is not stable it can affect the entire Middle East and that will affect our entire world. If you don't simply want to look at it as of course it's important because there are human beings living here. I don't see borders and I see lives and I see children and this is ...an environment where there is a war but there is a humanitarian crisis. And they have to be addressed simultaneously. We can't wait for one to end to then finally take the time to address the other; it has to start right now.