Angelina Jolie tackles sexual violence in war zones
UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie visits Somali refugees at Shousha Camp located eight kilometers from the Tunis-Libyan border on April 5, 2011 at Ras Djir, Tunisia. The Oscar-winning actress was promoted from her position to special envoy for the UNHCR on April 17, 2012.
Actress Angelina Jolie is supporting a British government initiative aimed at tackling sexual violence in global war zones, the BBC reported.
"Throughout history, rape and sexual violence have been used as weapons of war,” Jolie said. "And in modern warfare, as women and girls have become primary targets, the problem has grown tremendously."
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Jolie met with British Foreign Secretary William Hague in London to launch the new campaign, USA TODAY reported.
The program aims to pursue perpetrators of sexual violence via the international courts.
Jolie is a special envoy for the United Nations' High Commissioner on Refugees. She spoke with Hague at the Foreign Commonwealth Office before a screening of her new film “In the Land Of Blood and Honey” about the 1992-95 Bosnian war.
According to the BBC, British experts will be trained to gather evidence on short notice in those areas hit with conflict.
"Improved cooperation between countries and international leadership like we are seeing today is crucial to bringing justice and ending impunity,” said the actress. “I am so very grateful, I am so happy to be a part of it," she said.