ACTRESS and human rights activist Angelina Jolie urged the international community Tuesday to make educating Iraqi children a greater priority.

“The best way to heal children of conflict from trauma is to have them focus on their future,” Jolie told the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington D.C.

Jolie, who visited Iraq in August, and other humanitarian workers discussed how to help displaced Iraqi children regain some sense of normalcy and stability through education.

“Every child has a right to education and conflict is not a reason to ignore that,” Jolie said.

The Hollywood actress has visited more than 20 humanitarian hot spots, including Iraq and Sudan’s Darfur region, since becoming a good will U.N. ambassador in 2001.

The Iraq war has produced 4.5 million refugees and internally displaced people. Of those who have fled the country, about 1.5 million are now in neighboring Syria, while hundreds of thousands have relocated to Jordan and Lebanon.

Syria and Jordan have stretched their limited budgets to educate some Iraqi children, but they need help to accommodate the massive influx of students.

(SD-Agencies)