Angelina Jolie, British Foreign Secretary Open Sexual-Violence Summit
Angelina Jolie, British Foreign Secretary Open Sexual-Violence Summit
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From left: Angelina Jolie and Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague arrive at the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict at the Excel Centre in London on June 10, 2014.Facundo Arrizabalaga—EPA
Angelina Jolie has earned herself quite a list of titles over the years: Academy Award winner, Hollywood’s highest-paid actress, advocate for breast-cancer prevention. These days, though, she’s first and foremost a global humanitarian figure, and seemingly a pretty good one at that.
On Tuesday, she and British Foreign Secretary William Hague open a four-day summit in London to address the epidemic of sexual violence in warring regions across the world. AFP reports that it’s the largest meeting ever to be held on the issue, with representatives from over 100 countries traveling to the U.K., including U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.
“We will pool our expertise, diplomatic skills and resources toward the common goal of relegating sexual violence to the annals of history where it belongs,” Kerry wrote in an essay for the London Evening Standard. “This issue remains deeply personal for me. Too many of the places I have visited as Secretary of State bear the scars of a time when rape was used as a tactic of oppression and intimidation.”
The Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict, which will conclude on Friday with a video statement by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, aims to establish a set of international legal standards for prosecuting rape and eliminating the “culture of impunity” that permits it.
Conflict zones frequently observe the use of sexual violence as a tool of subjugation: a “cheap and devastating” weapon wielded to assert authority over the communities that play host to the violence.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, for instance, where bloody ethnic turmoil has persisted for two decades, 12% of the female population claims to have been raped at least once.
The summit is the culmination of a two-year collaborative effort between Hague and Jolie, who was first appointed as a special envoy of U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres in April 2012. It’s been a fruitful period — 141 U.N. member states have since endorsed the organization’s official declaration on ending sexual violence in armed conflicts — but this week’s meeting marks the first concrete steps toward tackling the issue.
Angelina Jolie: Humanitarian
UNHCR's Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie Pitt greets refugees and migrants during her visit to the port of Piraeus, Greece, March 16, 2016. She urged
the international community to respond to Europe's worst refugee crisis since World War II with generosity and not the "politics of fear."Louisa Gouliamaki—AFP/Getty Images UNHCR special envoy Angelina Jolie Pitt shakes hands with Kachin ethnic refugee children as she visits Eight Miles Palana IDP camp in Myitkyina capital city of Kachin state, Myanmar on July 30, 2015.Soe Zeya Tun—ReutersUnited Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Special Envoy Angelina Jolie meets displaced Iraqis who are members of the minority Christian community, living in an abandoned school in Al Qosh, northern Iraq on Jan. 26, 2015. Jolie wrote an Op-Ed for the New York Times on the suffering she witnessed there.Andrew McConnell—UNHCR/ReutersActress Angelina Jolie, right, is presented with the Insignia of an Honorary Dame Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George by Britain's Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace, London, Oct. 10, 2014. Anthony Devlin—APAngelina Jolie. in her role as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Special Envoy, listening to Maltese military officers discussing rescue at sea operations for refugees at a military base in Valetta, Malta, Sept. 14, 2014.Pete Muller—EPAAngelina Jolie, special envoy of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), visits Karenni refugee Baw Meh, 75, and Baw Meh's family from Myanmar on World Refugee Day, at Ban Mai Nai Soi refugee camp, Myanmar in this photo release on June 20, 2014.R. Arnold—UNHCR/Reuters
Actress and Special Envoy of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Angelina Jolie, hugs Neema Namadamu of the Democratic Republic of Congo a the 'End Sexual Violence in Conflict' summit in London June 11, 2014. Lefteris Pitarakis—ReutersActress Angelina Jolie leaves Lancaster House after attending the G8 Foreign Minsters' conference on April 11, 2013 in London.Oli Scarff—Getty ImagesAngelina Jolie meets with refugees at the Zaatari refugee camp on Dec. 6, 2012 outside of Mafraq, Jordan.Jason Tanner—UNHCR/Getty ImagesAngelina Jolie walks through the jungle led by Plinio, the President of Providencia community on April 22, 2012 in Ecuador. Jason Tanner—UNHCR/Getty ImagesAngelina Jolie visits Libya to help agencies bringing aid to Libyans in Tripoli and Misrata on Oct. 11, 2011 in Misrata, Libya. Jason Tanner—UNHCR/Getty ImagesAngelina Jolie speaks during an annual meeting of UNHCR's governing executive committee in Geneva Oct. 4, 2011. Jason Tanner—UNHCR/ReutersAngelina Jolie, meets with Khanum Gul, 35, a mother of 8 and her youngest son, Samir at their makeshift home at Tamil Mill Bus site in Kabul city, Afghanistan in Feb. 2011. Jason Tanner—UNHCR/Getty ImagesAngelina Jolie speaks with media during a visit to the Jalozai flood victim relief camp in Pakistan's northwest Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province on Sept. 7, 2010. Morteza Nikoubazl—ReutersActress Angelina Jolie visits the Green Zone in Baghdad Feb. 7, 2008.James Deady—U. S. Department of Defense/ReutersActress Angelina Jolie's back is seen as she arrives to attend the premiere of the film "A Mighty Heart" in New York, June 13, 2007. Lucas Jackson—ReutersAngelina Jolie accepts the Global Humanitarian Award at the United Nations Association of the United States of America annual gala dinner at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel Oct. 11, 2005 in New York. Evan Agostini—Getty ImagesAngelina Jolie speaks at the National Press Club on March 8, 2005 in Washington DC. Jolie answered questions about her work as the Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations and her work with refugees and orphans. Win McNamee—Getty ImagesAngelina Jolie arrives at the El-Geneina airport in West Darfur as the Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees on Oct. 25 2004. Cris Bouroncle—AFP/Getty ImagesActress Angelina Jolie visits Bella refugee camp Aug. 22, 2003 in Ingushetia, near the Chechen border in Russia's North Caucasus region. Tanya Makeeva—Getty ImagesAngelina Jolie receives gifts from the children at the Tham Hin refugee camp on the Thai-Burma border May 19, 2002. Jolie visited the camp on as part of her role as goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.Sukree Sukplan—AFP/Getty Images
