Angelina Jolie traveled to the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa on Sunday to thank its residents for welcoming in the estimated 20,000 migrants who arrived after fleeing unrest in Tunisia and Libya. Jolie, a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, toured a migrant holding center, chatted with some refugees and then participated in a ceremony at Lampedusa’s memorial for migrants lost at sea as part of commemorations for World Refugee Day on Monday. She thanked the residents who gathered for the ceremony for welcoming the migrants in and asked them to consider how “horrible” their lives must have been that they would risk everything for the chance of a better life in Europe. U.N. refugee chief Antonio Guterres also was on hand to urge Europe to continue keeping its doors open to refugees. Italy’s center-right government has begrudgingly accepted the migrants. It has also struck deals with Tunisia and the Libyan opposition to return those who don’t qualify for asylum.
