Arbitrary Detention of IDPs Is Focus During Angelina Jolie’s Burkina Faso Visit 

GOUDOUBO REFUGEE CAMP, BURKINA FASO - Deep in Burkina Faso’s war-torn Sahel province lies the Goudoubo refugee camp.  It was rebuilt after Islamist militants burned much of it to the ground last year.

Around 11,000 refugees live here in makeshift tents or plastic flat-pack shelters provided by the United Nations. They fled Mali, a country plagued by armed groups linked to the Islamic State and al-Qaida terror groups, to another country beset by the same problem. Actor Angelina Jolie, who is special envoy for the U.N.’s refugee agency (UNHCR), recently visited Goudoubo to mark World Refugee Day and praised Burkina Faso for its treatment of the displaced. “The truth is we are not doing half of what we could and should to find solutions to enable refugees to return home — or to support host countries, like Burkina Faso, coping for years with a fraction of the humanitarian aid needed to provide basic support and protection,” she said.