DUBAI: American actress Angelina Jolie, Special Envoy for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), arrived in Aden, Yemen on Sunday for a visit to help draw attention to the catastrophic consequences of the seven-year conflict on the people of Yemen.
“She will be visiting Yemeni families, including displaced families and refugees, to hear directly from them how the conflict has ripped their lives apart,” a statement from the UN agency said.
“UNHCR hopes her visit will highlight the increasing humanitarian needs in Yemen and help mobilize urgent support for humanitarian work ahead of the annual High-Level Pledging Conference for Yemen on March 16, and call for regional and international actors to commit to an end to the conflict,” the agency added.
“As we continue to watch the horrors unfolding in Ukraine and call for an immediate end to the conflict and humanitarian access, I am here in Yemen to support people who also desperately need peace. The situation here is one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world,” Jolie said in a post on her Instagram account.
Jolie previously represented UNHCR as a Goodwill Ambassador from 2001-2012 before her appointment as Special Envoy.
Her work with the UN highlighted refugee situations in areas from Iraq, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Burkina Faso to Bangladesh, among others.
