Jolie visits Syrian refugees in northern Iraq

U.N. special envoy and actress Angelina Jolie on Sunday visited Syrian refugees in Domiz camp in the northern Iraqi Kurdish province of Duhouk.

The United Nations is in the process of registering more than 250,000 refugees from the 18-month-old conflict in four neighbouring countries, with more than 100,000 arriving in August alone – 85,000 of those in Jordan.

According to the UNHCR, some 22,847 Syrians have fled to Iraq since the conflict began. More than 19,000 Syrians have crossed the border and found their way to Kurdistan.

Some are soldiers escaping orders to fire on protesters or fellow Kurdish deserters, others are families who faced an increasing struggle to find gas and food, or students who wanted no part in fighting for President Bashar al-Assad.

Syria’s Kurds have long suffered discrimination under Assad and many see in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan a place where they can find work and easily settle with common roots and language as the Syrian conflict rages.

Jolie commended local people for helping the Syrians.

“This region in of course famous for its kindness and generosity to refugees,” Jolie told reporters.

She praised the Kurdish government’s move in providing refugees with resident cards, which will help give them easier access to services and more freedom of movement.

“I have been, of course, very encouraged to be here and hear the government speak of continuing this wonderful life-saving open border policy,” she said.

“I have been to the four borders of Syria. This is the first camp I have been to where they are already preparing for wintrisation. And also where there are ID cards giving people freedom of movement which is an extraordinary thing. So they are very much ahead of things in this camp,” Jolie said.

While Syrian towns such as Homs face the brunt of Assad’s crackdown after protests and fighting, activists from the Kurdish region say Syrian Kurds – a million out of Syria’s 21 million population – now cautiously see a chance to edge closer to rights similar to Kurdistan’s model.

Iraqi Kurdistan, autonomous since 1991, has its own provincial government and armed forces, though it still relies on the Baghdad central government for its budget.

Jolie met on Saturday Iraq’s Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zibari and discussed with him the humanitarian situation and living conditions of the Syrian refugees in Iraq.

Jolie has recently visited refugee camps in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan to shed light on the plight of the Syrian refugees and urge humanitarian assistance from the international community.

Syrian opposition groups say more than 27,000 people have died in the uprising.