Actress and United Nations Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie donated $100,000 to assist Syrian refugees, the United Nations refugee agency reported on Wednesday. Her donation came as the agency warned the global community that they were experiencing a pitfall in funding aimed at helping Syria's refugees, who are leaving the violence in the country that has seen over 14,500 people killed since the uprising began in March 2011. UNHCR spokesperson Melissa Fleming said “one month after the United Nations and its humanitarian partners issued an appeal for $84 million to help Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq, less than 20 percent of the funds have been given.” Fleming continued, “the refugees and the countries hosting them are beginning to show signs of strain. Many refugees arrived with little or no financial resources, so are mostly reliant on the efforts of the host community and organizations dedicated to supporting them.” In a statement marking the donation on World Refugee Day, Jolie said “the solutions to the world's growing number of displaced people were political as well as humanitarian.” “The international community should rededicate itself to preventing conflict, addressing it when it erupts, and solving it more quickly,” she said. Jolie is a special envoy of the UNHCR and has been working with the agency since 2001.
