Today, Angelina Jolie kicked off an international summit that aims to address sexual violence in conflict zones. You know: real light, breezy stuff.
Jolie, along with British Foreign Secretary William Hague, presided over the opening of the four-day summit in London, which will involve more than 100 countries and discuss ending sexual violence during conflict.
UN Special Envoy Jolie has visited victims of wartime sexual violence in Bosnia and in the DNC. Her 2011 directorial debut, In the Land of Blood and Honey, is set during the Bosnian civil war of the late twentieth century. During that conflict, experts estimate that 50,000 women were raped. According to AFP, Jolie was so moved by the plight of survivors there that she worked for two years to make this summit — the largest of its kind to date — a reality.
As she opened the conference, Jolie said she and Hague had discussed a woman they met in Bosnia, who was still too ashamed to tell her son that she had been raped.
“This day is for her,” said Jolie. “We believe it truly is a summit like no other.”
Standing next to her, Hague told reporters: “This will be the greatest concentration of effort, of discussion and decision ever seen in combating sexual violence in conflict.”
US Secretary of State John Kerry, who is attending the summit, has echoed Jolie and Hague’s sentiments, calling for an end to legal protection for perpetrators of conflict-related sexual violence.
I’d imagine that somewhere, George Will and his creepy wig are furiously writing a column about how it can’t really be that bad.
Image via AP