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"There doesn't seem to be a real coherent plan to help them," said Jolie,
speaking in an exclusive interview with CNN's Arwa Damon. "There's lots of
goodwill. Lots of discussion, but there seems to be a lot of talk at the
moment, and a lot of pieces that need to be put together. I'm trying to figure
out what they are."
A goodwill ambassador for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Jolie
wants to find ways to help the agency be more active inside war-torn Iraq,
where Sunni-Shiite sectarian violence has sparked a displacement crisis that is
considered the most significant in the Middle East since the 1948 creation of
Israel.
More than 4.2 million Iraqis have fled their homes, around 2 million to
neighboring states, mostly Syria and Jordan, and another 2.2 million displaced
inside Iraq.
"How Iraq settles in the years to come is going to affect the entire
Middle East," said Jolie. "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."
Jolie has been working to help draw attention to the problem and has
called for governments to bolster their support of the UNHCR. In August, Jolie
first visited Iraq and Syria to get a sense of the problem. She heard stories
from refugees and displaced people about their plight.
This visit to Iraq is focusing on the problems of the internally
displaced, 58 percent of whom are under age 12. A top issue for the agency is
getting better security.
Jolie is talking with U.S. officials, including top U.S. Gen. David
Petraeus, about that issue, and are willing to provide such security which she
said "needs to be addressed and solved."
The Iraqi government needs to empower agencies that deal with migration
to address the concerns of the displaced -- but that hasn't happened yet, she
said.
Jolie said it's crucial that the government prepare a plan to deal with
refugees who return home from Syria and Jordan and find that their homes are
"occupied" by others or "bombed out." She emphasizes the way in which these
people are resettled will have "broad implications" in the region.
Jolie also is talking to people about moving forward the U.S. effort to
resettle Iraqi refugees in the United States, which has set a goal of taking in
12,000 of those people by September. Only 375 have been admitted so far.
"I have to believe there are people working toward that goal," she said.
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