Angelina Jolie, U.N Special Envoy visits refugee camp in Burkina Faso

Angelina Jolie, Special Envoy for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency and Hollywood’s award-winning actress, visited a refugee camp in Burkina Faso for World Refugee Day on Sunday.

Her visit aims to bring attention to the issue of displacement of people around the world.

Speaking at the camp she quoted “Today 1 in 95 people are forcibly displaced. The world needs to wake up to the track we are on globally” where conflict and climate change could force “hundreds of millions” of people to leave their homes seeking refuge elsewhere.

UNHCR Spokeswoman, Fatoumata Lejeune-Kaba said the situation with refugees in Burkina Faso has become much more “insecure,” while Fadimata Mohamed Ali Wallet, a refugee in the camp felt it wasn’t just Mali, where she fled from, that had terrorism issues forcing people to flee, but a problem for the whole of Africa.

Burkina Faso is acutely affected by the current displacement crisis in the Sahel region of West and Central Africa.

More than 1.2 million people have been forced to flee their homes since 2019. Funding for the UN Refugee Agency ‘s response in Burkina Faso remains critically low, with only 22 per cent of the funding required being met. There is still more to be done.

Suzan O/REU/AFN