Angelina Jolie Kicks Off Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict

Angelina Jolie is speaking out for those
who are afraid to do so themselves.
The Maleficent star, who is a UN special
envoy, kicked off the Global Summit to
End Sexual Violence in Conflict in London
Tuesday. The 39-year-old Oscar winning-
actress and mother of six is co-hosting
the four-day conference with her
frequent collaborator, William Hague,
England's Foreign Secretary.
"It is a myth that rape is an inevitable
part of conflict," Jolie said. "There is
nothing inevitable about it. It is a
weapon of war aimed at civilians. It is
nothing to do with sex, everything to do
with power. It is done to torture and
humiliate innocent people and often
very young children. I have met
survivors from Afghanistan to Somalia
and they are just like us, with one crucial
difference: we live in safe countries with
doctors we can go to when we are hurt,
police we can turn to when we are
wronged, and institutions that protect
us. They live in refugee camps or
bombed-out streets in areas where
there is no law, no protection and not
even the hope of justice. They struggle
to keep their children safe, and if they
admit to being raped, they are likely to
face more violence and social rejection."
"Other survivors live in countries where
the war is over but the peace has
brought no justice. And as an
international community, we are
responsible for that. We need to shatter
that culture of impunity. And make
justice the norm--not the exception--for
these crimes," the humanitarian
continued. "We need political will
replicated across the world and we need
to treat this subject as a priority. We
need to see real commitment to go after
the worst perpetrators, to fund proper
protection for vulnerable people and to
step in and help the worst affected
countries. We need all armies,
peacekeeping troops and police forces to
have the prevention of sexual violence in
conflict as part of their training."
"More than 100 countries will be
represented at this summit, and we are
asking them to take these measures, but
we really do need your help," the
Unbroken director said. "This whole
subject has been taboo for far too long,
war zone rape is a crime that thrives on
silence and denial. The stigma harms
survivors and causes feelings of shame
and worthlessness, it feeds ignorance,
such as the notion that rape has anything
to do with normal sexual impulses, but
most of all, it allows the rapist to get
away with it. They feel above the law
because the law rarely touches them and
society tolerates them."
"As Eleanor Roosevelt once said, 'The
destiny of human rights is in the hands of
all of our citizens and all our
communities.' And this evil will continue
to ruin the lives of millions of people
unless we make this summit a turning
point--and we can. We can send a
message across the world that there is
no disgrace in being a survivor of sexual
violence, that the shame is on the
aggressor. We must work together in
new and unprecedented ways across
borders and religions bringing
governments and people together and
tackling the problem from every possible
angle and by doing this we can end the
use of rape and sexual violence as a
weapon of war once and for all. We
really can do it. So, thank you so much
for joining us today, for joining us in his
fight, and I wish us all a very productive
summit."
The Global Summit to End Sexual
Violence in Conflict took two years to
organize.
Jolie, who wore a white Michael Kors
blazer and skirt from the Spring 2014
collection, told reporters that she and
Hague had discussed a woman they met
in Bosnia, who was still too ashamed to
tell her son she'd been raped. "This day
is for her," Jolie said. "We believe it truly
is a summit like no other."