Angelina Jolie, in Lebanon, says world has failed refugees

Angelina Jolie, the Hollywood actress and special envoy for the UN’s refugee agency, says the international community must address the root causes of the global refugee crisis.

Under the pouring rain at a press conference Tuesday in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, Jolie says: “We cannot manage the world through aid relief in the place of diplomacy and political solutions.”

Hundreds of thousands of Syrians have sought refuge in the Bekaa. Lebanon hosts well over a million Syrian refugees, who now account for nearly a fifth of its population.

Jolie says she had hoped to be in Syria helping victims return to their homes on the fifth anniversary of the uprising against President Bashar Assad. She says it’s “tragic and shameful that we seem to be so far from that point.”

— AP