Angelina Jolie, Special Envoy, UNHCR

UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres and his Special Envoy Angelina Jolie today (13 September) reiterated the urgent need to help countries hosting tens of thousands of Syrian refugees, as they visited the Kilis camp located near Turkey's border with Syria.More than 80,000 refugees, mainly women and children, are staying in these camps and the government is preparing to house a further 36,000 by the end of this month. In addition, up to 60,000 people are thought to be staying with relatives or renting rooms and apartments in urban areas.At the Kilis camp, 12,000 refugees reside in converted freight containers, providing some semblance of home. Governor Tapsiz said a further 4,000 were living in the town of Kilis and receiving aid.Nine year old Saad from Aleppo talked with Jolie and told her how one of his brothers had been recently killed.
On the second day of a joint visit to countries hosting tens of thousands of Syrian refugees, the head of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) António Guterres and Special Envoy Angelina Jolie today (12 September) heard about the difficulties people face in escaping war-torn Syria and the challenges of finding shelter for them in Lebanon.Guterres and Jolie visited the Bekaa Valley neighbouring Syria and met some of the 67,000 registered refugees in Lebanon as well as members of host communities. Jolie met three women who had crossed to Lebanon with their children while their husbands remained in Syria because they feared being killed if they attempted escape. One woman tearfully described a four-hour trek to the border after she had told her children they were going to visit relatives in Lebanon.Guterres heard from the refugees he met about the risks and terror they faced heading for the border on escape routes, including constant shelling and harsh security checks.