Jolie visits refugees in northern Ecuador to stress plight of women, children

By AP
Friday, June 18, 2010

Jolie visits refugees in Ecuador

QUITO, Ecuador — Angelina Jolie has traveled on rutted jungle roads to a village on Ecuador’s border with Colombia to highlight the abuses suffered by women and children refugees.

The actress and U.N. human rights goodwill ambassador returned for the first time in eight years to a turbulent region where thousands of Colombian refugees live.

She ended her two-day visit Friday with a meeting in Shushufindi with President Rafael Correa and other senior government officials.

On Thursday, Jolie was in the isolated border hamlet of Barranca Bermeja. The U.N. says one of the women she met had lost two children in Colombia’s conflict.

More than 50,000 Colombian refugees are registered in Ecuador though unofficial estimates put the number at more than 170,000.

(This version CORRECTS spelling of ‘with’ in graf 3)

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