(REUTERS) - Speaking from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, actress Angelina Jolie made an urgent appeal to the world to help refugees in Iraq and Syria.

"The international community has to step up and do more. UNHCR (the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) received only half of the funding it needed in 2014 for programs in Iraq and Syria. And it is extremely concerned at the slow pace of pledges for this year. Without more assistance the situation is unsustainable," said the Oscar winning actress during a press conference held at theKhanke Camp for internally displaced people.

Jolie last visited the area in 2012 and said in a press release that the conditions are a "dramatic worsening of the humanitarian situation in the war-torn country as the conflicts in Syria and Iraq intensify and become intertwined."

Jolie, who is a Special Envoy for UNHCR, also met with the elderly and children.