Angelina Jolie Talks Syrian Refugees, Education, Violence Against Women & More With Brigitte Macron

Angelina Jolie Talks Syrian Refugees, Education, Violence Against Women & More With Brigitte Macron

Director, activist and busy mother Angelina Jolie was in Paris today to film a commercial on the Champs-Elysées for perfume house Guerlain. Jolie has been an ambassador for the brand since 2016. After a trip to the Louvre museum with her six children, Jolie also met with French President Emmanuel Macron and First Lady Brigitte Macron at a visit to the presidential  Elysées Palace. 

Jolie and Mrs. Macron met for an hour, discussing education, violence against women and [Jolie]’s activities as UNHCR Special Envoy and her recent visit to Jordan. On Sunday, Angelina took Zahara and Shiloh to the Zataari refugee camp, located less than an hour's drive from the Syrian border and a temporary home to 78.000 people fleeing Syrian violence.  

Child Bride Marriages Increase In Syrian Refugee Camps: Christiane Amanpour Investigates

Child Bride Marriages Increase In Syrian Refugee Camps: Christiane Amanpour Investigates

While Trump assures Americans that he will be tough on letting any Syrian refugees into America, more than half a million Syrians have sought refuge in neighboring Jordan. CNN's Christiane Amanpour visits the Zaatari refugee camp outside Mafraq, Jordan, asking the key question about why our hearts have gone cold. Vanity Fair shares her investigation. 

More than 80,000 Syrians live in Zaatari, a sizable number of the more than 600,000 Syrians who have poured into Jordan since 2011. Amanpour introduces a topic not discussed about the worst side effects of the Syrian war: the rise of early marriage for girls, victims of poverty-stricken parents who often truly believe their daughters will be safer with a husband. 

Amanpour's Vanity Fair article is not fully available online, but she shares her thoughts in this February 2017 piece for CNN. 

Dr. Annie Sparrow & Dr. Rola Hallam Speak For Syria At 2017 Women In The World Summit

R. ANNIE SPARROW AND DR. ROLA HALLAM AT THE 2017 WOMEN IN THE WORLD SUMMIT IN NEW YORK CITY.

Dr. Annie Sparrow & Dr. Rola Hallam Speak For Syria At 2017 Women In The World Summit

Two women doctors -- Dr. Annie Sparrow and Dr. Rola Hallam -- shared their Syria experiences in a moving discussion from last night's  April 5, 2017 Women in the World Summit in New York. Dr. Hallam tells a gut-wrenching story about a severely burned child whose flesh was so singed that she knew he would not live, although he said he was doing okay. She gave him a drug -- "so he would slip away."

My heart stopped when she said that -- for fear that the Trump administration would stop all her funding, as they are to all the women's health clinics around the world, even if they have nothing to do with abortion. The pro-life contingent believes that Dr. Hallam is a murderer . . . that she should have let the child suffer until he died naturally -- the flesh singed off his precious body. It's a very sad world on multiple fronts that we are living in, that this thought would pop into my mind. ~ Anne

Netflix's 'The White Helmets' About Syrian Crisis Takes Home First Oscar Win

Netflix's 'The White Helmets' About Syrian Crisis Takes Home First Oscar Win

Netflix's film 'The White Helmets', the story of volunteer rescue workers in Syria, took home the Oscar for Best Documentary Short Sunday.  The victory was a wonderful first win for Netflix, distributor of the film. 

The 40-minute film follows three rescue workers with the White Helmets -- also known as the Syrian Civil Defense -- who train in Turkey to provide emergency medical assistance to civilians caught in Syria's civil war.

AOC has tracked in the month of Feb. efforts to bring cinematographer and press officer for the White Helmets Khaled Khatib to the US.  The leader of the White Helmets Raed Saleh was also unable to obtain the necessary travel documents. There is no doubt that the two men were originally caught up in the Trump administration's Muslim ban.  The situation appeared to be on the verge of resolution but fell apart again days before the Oscars. 

Kurdish Women Fighters In Syria Say ISIS Fears Women Soldiers So Much They Shake

Kurdish Women Fighters In Syria Say ISIS Fears Women Soldiers So Much They Shake

In a media world assaulted with ISIS videos and threats of yet another beheading, the most fabulous story of heroism has emerged around a group of about 7,000 young Kurdish women in Syria who have armed themselves and joined the Women’s Protection Unit, or YPJ, “which grew out of the wider Kurdish resistance movement.”

I’ve covered this story in small bullet points on Eye, but this NBC News feature of dramatic images by New York-based photographer Erin Trieb are an inspiration for our ISIS media-weary souls.

Unlike the Iraqi soldiers who ran from ISIS, the Women’s Protection Unit is fighting to keep their people safe against attacks from Bashar Assad’s government, ISIS militants and the al Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front.