Refugee system breaking down: Angelina Jolie

The United Nations (UN) Refugee Agency's Special Envoy Angelina Jolie-Pitt says the international humanitarian system for refugees is breaking down.

She warned against a "fear of migration" and said that this was a "once-in-a-generation moment when nations have to pull together" during her speech at the BBC's World on the Move day, covering global migration issues.

Jolie said that more than 60 million people, one in 122, were displaced globally, more than at any time in the past 70 years.

"This tells us something deeply worrying about the peace and security of the world. The average time a person will be displaced is now nearly 20 years," she said.

Jolie said the "number of conflicts and scale of displacement had grown so large" the system to protect and return refugees was not working.

"With this, then, the state of today's world, is it any surprise that some of these desperate people, who are running out of all options and who see no hope of returning home, would make a push for Europe as a last resort, even at the risk of death?" she added.

UN Refugee Agency's Special Envoy also said that Europe was "only a fraction of the global refugee problem."

"We in the West are neither at the center of the refugee crisis, nor - for the most part - the ones making the greatest sacrifice," she said.

She warned that amid a "fear of uncontrolled migration" countries were "competing to be the toughest, in the hope of protecting themselves whatever the cost or challenge to their neighbors, and despite their international responsibilities."

"Isolationism is not the answer. If your neighbor's house is on fire, you are not safe if you lock your doors. Strength lies in being unafraid," she added.