Hollywood star and humanitarian Angelina Jolie has expressed her sadness about the abrupt departure of over a million “suffering Afghan people” from Pakistan.
In an Instagram post on Monday, the former UNHCR ambassador said “Pakistan has been a supporter for many Afghan refugee families for decades,” she wrote in a post accompanied by pictures of many fleeing families.
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“I am saddened they would so abruptly push back refugees who face the impossible realities of trying to survive in today’s Afghanistan, where women have again been deprived of all rights and the possibility of education, many are being imprisoned, and there is a deep humanitarian crisis,” she added further.
Her remarks follow Pakistan’s intention to deport all undocumented immigrants, a large number of whom are from Afghanistan.
“Suspend forcible returns of Afghan nationals before it is too late to avoid a human rights catastrophe,” demanded the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights of Pakistan last month.
In response, Pakistan maintained that regardless of the immigrants’ nationality or place of origin, the decision to request their departure was made in the execution of internal laws.
Jolie previously worked for the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) as a special envoy, a position she left last year. She joined the organization in 2012.
She went to Pakistan a year ago to help towns that had been devastated by flooding and excessive rain, which had destroyed roughly one-third of the nation and affected over 33 million people.
