File photo of Angelina Jolie. AFP
Hollywood actor and humanitarian Angelina Jolie will visit Pakistan at an as-yet-undisclosed date to support communities affected by this year’s devastating floods, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) announced on Monday.
Noting the actor had already visited victims of Pakistan’s 2005 earthquake and 2010 floods, the IRC said she would tour its emergency response operations during her trip, as well as local organizations assisting displaced people, including Afghan refugees.
“Ms. Jolie is visiting to witness and gain understanding of the situation, and to hear from people affected directly about their needs, and about steps to prevent such suffering in the future,” it said, adding she would highlight the need for urgent support of flood-hit people, and long-term solutions to tackle the crises of climate change, human displacement and protracted insecurity.
“Ms. Jolie will see first-hand how countries like Pakistan are paying the greatest cost for a crisis they did not cause,” read the IRC statement, adding it hoped her visit would shed light on this issue and prompt the international community—especially states contributing the most to carbon emissions—to act and provide urgent support to countries bearing the brunt of the climate crisis.
“The climate crisis is destroying lives and futures in Pakistan, with severe consequences especially for women and children,” said Shabnam Baloch, the Pakistan Country Director at the IRC. “The resulting economic loss from these floods will likely lead to food insecurity and an increase in violence against women and girls. We need immediate support to reach people in urgent need, and long term investments to stop climate change from destroying our collective futures. With more rains expected in the coming months, we hope Angelina Jolie’s visit will help the world wake up and take action,” she added.
According to IRC’s latest needs assessment, residents of flood-hit regions are in urgent need of food, drinking water, shelter, and healthcare. It said it had already reached over 50,000 women and girls with humanitarian assistance, including dignity and hygiene kits to address the need for sanitation and menstrual items. The organization said it had been providing lifesaving services to flood-affected communities in Balochistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh since early July, and had facilitated the delivery of emergency supplies, food, healthcare and safe spaces to almost 950,000 people.
The Government of Pakistan has said this year’s floods affected 33 million people, submerging a third of the country underwater and causing massive damage to infrastructure, crops and livestock. The record-rainfall has been attributed to climate change, with observers—including U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres—lamenting that despite contributing less than 1 percent of global carbon emissions, Pakistan is among the eight countries most at risk of the consequences of global warming.