Heartbroken and at the same time not devoid of anger, Angelina Jolie confided her comment to her Instagram stories about the tragic shipwreck of the Adrian fishing boat off the coast of Greece. From the testimonies of the few survivors, it follows that there were 750 migrants on the boat, of which about 100 were children. To date, 78 bodies have been retrieved. The 48-year-old actress and humanitarian said: “I am disgusted by this news. Nobody risks their life like that unless they have a choice.”
Angelina Jolie, who until 2022 served as UNHCR Ambassador, the United Nations refugee agency, then shared the story of a man she knew who became a victim of a shipwreck with his family: “I knew a man who lost his wife and daughter after holding their bodies, trying to keep them alive. I asked him why they chose to board such a crowded and dangerous ship? Why take the risk?” Further, the actress said that the man answered her. Having dedicated his life to helping others, working as a doctor, the man decided to take his family away from the war. Having suffered, like the rest of his family, from violence and torture, they decided to set off. Thus, they ended up being abandoned by traffickers on this boat without the possibility of escape.Then the story of the shipwreck: “Another boat crashed into them, a man tried to keep his wife and daughter afloat, but could not.”
With this heartbreaking story, Angelina Jolie wanted to explain that migrants who embark on these journeys of hope only do so because they have no other options. “When we don’t respect human rights laws, when we Westerners interfere in ways that disrupt their (immigrants’) lives by profiting from their resources, when we feed their poverty by buying their land… it’s all part of the injustice and tragedy, which makes people risk their lives so much, ”concluded the actress.
Tags: Angelina Jolie, migrants, UNHCR