Angelina Jolie (@angelinajolie) Instagram Analytics

A seven-year-old girl at her mother’s grave. Parisa Lashkari, 30, killed during protests in Noorabad, Fars province, Iran, on January 10th.

No child should have to carry this kind of grief. May her mother’s memory be honored and may the truth be established, with protection for civilians, accountability for those responsible and greater freedom for all those who are seeking it.

I received this letter from a 26 year old young woman, who lost her father during an artillery attack in Gaza. She is living with her family and her paralyzed twin in a tent in central Gaza. She told me what daily life is like for her, her family, and her neighbours. I wanted to share it. Their reality continues, even while our attention turns to other devastating events unfolding in the world

“In previous wars, we thought that loss or death was the hardest thing a person in this country could experience. We believed that this was the highest level of pain and that nothing could be worse than that. But in this war we discovered that there is something worse than death … it is to keep living, but without a spirit, carrying a burden of suffering as heavy as the tons of broken concrete where our cities used to be.
About five months after the war ended, life in Gaza today is not only about surviving the bombing, but also a long series of exhausting details that follow us right from the moment we wake up. The small things that used to be very normal have now became extremely difficult.”

Swipe for the full letter.

Photographs by Enas AT

I visited Mykolaiv and Kherson in Ukraine this week to meet families living on the frontline. The threat of drones was a constant, heavy presence. You hear a low hum in the sky. It’s become known locally as a ‘human safari’, with drones used to track, hunt and terrorize people, constantly. There was a moment when we had to pause and wait while a drone flew overhead. I was in protective gear, and for me, it was just a couple of days. The families here live with this every single day.

They’ve moved their schools, clinics and daycare into reinforced basements, determined that life will go on. It was hard but inspiring to witness. Many people spoke to me about the psychological burden of living under continual threat — and the deeper fear of being forgotten by the world.

It is difficult to understand how, in a world with such a strong capacity for diplomacy, civilians in Ukraine, Sudan, Gaza, Yemen, the DRC and so many other places suffer daily - as if there is nothing that those in power can do to end those conflicts and to protect all civilians, equally.

What gives me hope is the incredible courage and skill of local organizations and volunteers and those who support them, like @marshzhinok @gen.ukrainian @fightforrightngo and @helpukraine_team

If they can find the strength, governments ought to able to do the same.

Right now, 41.6 million people across the world are considered refugees: people forced to leave home and travel across borders to find safety. Another 68.7 million still are displaced inside their own countries. That’s one in every 70 people alive today.

On paper, the total number of refugees fell this year. This sounds like progress, but what I have seen at borders, in camps, and in collective sites tells a different story.

Millions of displaced people have been pushed to return to countries still too dangerous to call home after losing their refugee status over policy changes and funding collapse. Families in places all across the world are being uprooted, and in many cases uprooted again, by wars and governments most of them had no say in.

This crisis is worldwide. Sudan is now the largest displacement crisis on earth: 9.3 million people uprooted inside the country, 4.4 million more across its borders. Gaza has 1.4 million displaced, and 59 percent of the population still faces crisis levels of hunger or worse. In the eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where most of the country’s 6.9 million displaced people are concentrated, 14.9 million will need humanitarian aid this year. Afghanistan, Syria, Ukraine, Myanmar, Venezuela, and South Sudan account for millions more.

None of this suffering is incidental. It is the direct result of decisions to bomb, to blockade, to besiege, to deport, and to look away. Violence, hunger, and the collapse of medical care fall hardest on those with the least power to stop or survive it: women, children, and the elderly.

Over twenty years of working with refugees, I have learned that the people closest to a crisis are the ones who know how to answer it - yet local organizations receive less than 10 percent of global humanitarian funding.

Please consider researching and supporting the people doing this work. To name just a few: organizations like @afghanwomennetwork and AWEC in Afghanistan, @inaraorg and Dalia Association in Gaza, NADA and @darfuridp in Sudan, and Proliska and @helpukraine_team in Ukraine - and read @unhcr’s latest report on forced displacement to learn more.

I recently visited the Imboni cooperative — a farm in in Gikomero, Rwanda, run collectively by the women who work the land — and left deeply inspired by everyone I met there.

Many are survivors of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, which killed up to a million people and left so many women to rebuild alone. For years, they’ve had no choice but to farm rented swampland to feed their families, earning less than a dollar a day, with heavy rain often wiping out entire crops.

My dear friend @gilesduley and his @legacyofwarfoundation have had the honor of working alongside these women for the last five years. The foundation buys fertile farmland and returns it to survivors of conflict, supporting them to become profitable, climate-smart farmers.

These women have taken this land and built something incredible. In five years, they’ve gone from laborers to landowners — increasing their income fivefold and sending over 90 of their children back to school.

It was a deeply meaningful visit, and we’re grateful for the time they spent with us. It was a strong reminder that local leadership is always the best way forward.

Photos by @iva_sidash

One year ago, conflict broke out along Cambodia’s border, upending the safety and stability of so many. Now, nearly 30,000 people remain internally displaced and unable to return home.

Cambodia has always been a special country for me and my family. This is my son’s country of birth, our home is here, and for over 20 years, we’ve worked with a fully locally-led team on conservation and community development. The Maddox Foundation is headquartered on the same border where the recent conflict took place.

I have had the honor of becoming close friends with my neighbors and the Foundation team as we demined and developed the area together.

When the fighting broke out last year, we had to evacuate our staff and their families — a painful reminder of just how quickly conflict can return.

I love this country and its resilient, warm people. While we’re grateful to have resumed our work protecting the land and supporting the community’s health and livelihoods, my heart is with everyone still waiting to come home.

ខ្ញុំស្រឡាញ់ប្រទេសមួយនេះ និងប្រជាជនដែលមានភាពរឹងមាំ ព្រមទាំងពោរពេញដោយភាពកក់ក្តៅ និងរួសរាយរាក់ទាក់។ បេះដូងរបស់ខ្ញុំនៅជាមួយអ្នករាល់គ្នា ដែលនៅតែទន្ទឹងរង់ចាំថ្ងៃដែលអាចវិលត្រឡប់ទៅផ្ទះរបស់ខ្លួនវិញ។

Photos: REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji