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Angelina Jolie Makes Powerful Plea For Syrian Refugees

Jolie: '3 Million Refugees Is Not Just Another Statistic'
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ZAHLE, LEBANON - FEBRUARY 23: (EDITORIAL USE ONLY) In this handout image provided by United Nations High Commission for Refugees, UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie meets with young Syrian refugees at an informal tented settlement in Zahle, Bekaa Valley on February 23, 2014 in Zahle, Lebanon. The UNHCR Special Envoy was on a 3 day visit to Lebanon to meet with some of the thousands of refugees who have fled the civil war in Syria. (Photo by Andrew McConnell / UNHCR via Getty Images)

Actress Angelina Jolie made a powerful plea for a renewed effort to resolve the crisis in Syria on Friday. Jolie's statement came in the wake of an announcement by the United Nations that the number of Syrian refugees has hit the grim milestone of three million.

"Three million refugees is not just another statistic. It is a searing indictment of our collective failure to end the war in Syria," Jolie said.

"International stability is steadily bleeding away in Syria. U.N. Security Council Resolutions are being ignored; war crimes are being committed on a daily basis; regional countries are staggering under the human burden; and Syrian refugees are dying in the Mediterranean sea, trying to reach Europe," she added.

The United Nations said on Friday that more than three million Syrians have registered as refugees in neighboring countries since the start of the violence in March 2011. In all, nearly half of the Syrian population has been displaced. There's no sign the situation will improve in the near future. The U.N. warns that as violence continues unabated, it's getting harder for many civilians trapped inside Syria to reach the country's borders.

Antonio Guterres, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, described the Syrian crisis on Friday as is the biggest humanitarian emergency of our era.

Angelina Jolie is a special representative for UNHCR, the U.N.'s refugee agency.

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Before You Go

Syria War In August
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Syrians walk around the wreckage of buildings after a reported barrel bomb strike from regime forces on the Maadi neighborhood, an opposition controlled area in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria on August 14, 2014. (credit:(Ahmed Muhammed Ali/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images))
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A civil defense team rescues people wounded after the Syrian army reportedly launched a barrel bomb attack in Aleppo, Syria on 10 August, 2014. (credit:(Ahmed Muhammed Ali/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images))
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Smoke rises following a reported barrel bomb attack from Syrian government forces in the northern city of Aleppo, on August 14, 2014. (credit:(ZEIN AL-RIFAI/AFP/Getty Images))
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Syrians inspect the rubble of the destroyed buildings after Syrian regime helicopters reportedly struck the al-Shaar area of Aleppo on August 13, 2014. (credit:(Ali/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images))
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Search and rescue team members accompany local residents after a reported Syrian regime attack on August 11, 2014 in the Maadi neighborhood, an opposition-controlled area of Aleppo. (credit:(Ahmed Muhammed Ali/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images))
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A Syrian woman weeps as search and rescue team members accompany local residents after bombings on August 11, 2014 in the Maadi neighborhood, an opposition-controlled area of Aleppo. (credit:(Ahmed Muhammed Ali/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images))
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A Syrian man cries as he sits on the rubble of a building following a reported barrel-bomb attack from government forces on August 11, 2014 in Aleppo. (credit:(BARAA AL-HALABI/AFP/Getty Images))
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An opposition group member is seen as search and rescue teams look for the wounded and dead in the Qadi Askar district of Aleppo, Syria on August 10, 2014. (credit: (Salih Mahmud Leyla/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images))
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The Banqusa Mosque, built in the Mamluk period in 1386 AD, was reportedly destroyed by air strikes from regime forces in Aleppo on August 8, 2014. (credit:(Ahmed Muhammed Ali/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images))
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A man helps a woman from an ambulance after she was injured during a helicopter attack on the Hanano neighborhood of Aleppo on August 9, 2014. (credit:(ZEIN AL-RIFAI/AFP/Getty Images))
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Members of Syrian Islamic Front fight pictured as they fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham in Aleppo, August 5, 2014. (credit:(Ahmed Muhamed Ali/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images))
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A member of the Syrian Islamic Front watches from a lookout post in Aleppo for activity from government forces on August 2, 2014. (credit:(Ahmed Muhammed Ali/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images))
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Syrian Islamic Front members check their machine gun bullets in Aleppo on August 2, 2014. (credit:(Ahmed Muhammed Ali/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images))
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A wounded man reacts as he lies on the ground at a makeshift hospital after reported shelling from Syrian government forces in Douma, northeast of Damascus, on August 3, 2014. (credit:(ABD DOUMANY/AFP/Getty Images))
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Free Syrian Army members shoot at regime forces with sniper rifles through holes of building walls in the Cobar neighborhood of eastern Aleppo on August 1, 2014. (credit:(Yusuf Bustani/Anadolu Agency/Getty mages))
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Members of the Syrian opposition group Mujahidin Brigade carry Grad rockets in the Dahiyet al-Asad district of Aleppo on August 2, 2014. (credit:(Ahmed Hasan Ubeyd/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images))
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