Jemal Countess/Getty ImagesAngelina Jolie briefed the United Nations Security Council on the ongoing Syrian refugee crisis Friday morning.
The U.N. special envoy on refugee issues urged world powers to intervene, saying, "We are failing to save lives in Syria."
"We cannot look at Syria, and the evil that has arisen from the ashes of indecision, and think this is not the lowest point in the world's inability to protect and defend the innocent…If we cannot end the conflict, we have an inescapable moral duty to help refugees and provide legal avenues to safety."
The United Nations currently estimates that 3.8 million people have fled Syria and roughly 7.6 million others are displaced inside the war-torn country.
Jolie implored members of the Security Council to "visit Syrian refugees to see first-hand their suffering and the impact it's having on the region."
The mother of six added that while major strides have been made in the surrounding regions, "all of this good is undermined by the message being sent in Syria."
"That laws can be flouted, chemical weapons can be used, hospitals can be bombed, aid can be withheld and civilians starved with impunity," she continued.
"The barbarism of those inflicting systematic sexual violence demands a much greater response from the international community. We need to send a signal that we are serious about accountability for these crimes and that is the only hope for establishing any deterrence.
"The crisis in Syria illustrates that our inability to find diplomatic solutions causes mass displacement, traps millions of people in exile—statelessness and displacement—52 million people are forcibly displaced…And while our priority must be ending the Syrian conflict, we must also broaden out the discussion this much wider problem. Our times will be defined not by the crisis themselves, but by the way we pull together as an international community."