Angelina Jolie visited refugees in Ecuador over the weekend as part of her humanitarian work with the United Nations' Refugee Agency.

Jolie visited rural areas in the northern part of Ecuador where many who fled the violence in neighboring Colombia live. She met with young Colombian refugees, a local women's association and a community of Afro-Colombian refugee families in urban and rural areas.

She also met Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño and senior government officials to discuss the protection situation for the refugees.

"Nobody wants to be a refugee, to have to leave their home. Nobody wants to be living on borrowed land and to have to be begging for a visa every year and not to be able to know what their life or their children's life is going to be, or whether they can access any jobs or get medical help," Jolie said, according to the UN Refugee Agency.

This was Jolie's first visit as Special Envoy of the High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres and her third trip to meet Colombia refugees in Ecuador.

Ecuador hosts 56,000 refugees and 21,000 asylum-seekers and receives 1,300 new applications for protection each month from people fleeing neighbouring Colombia's continuing violence. Many live in the remote and poor northern areas of the country close to the border.

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