The Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie has attended to G8 Foreign Ministers’ Conference, to address the issue of rape, occurring in war zones. The conference took place at Lancaster House in London yesterday (April 11, 2013). Jolie has been working alongside the British Foreign Secretary William Hague to campaign against and raise awareness of this wartime crime.

The Guardian are hosting a video of Jolie addressing the ministers gathered at the conference, in which she says “Hundreds of thousand of women and children have been sexually assaulted, tortured or forced into slavery in the wars of our generation. Time and again the world has failed to prevent this abuse or to hold attackers accountable. Rape has been treated as something that simply happens in war… victims have been denied justice.” She continued: “This violence can be prevented and it must be confronted.” Jolie explained that many of the rape victims that she has spoken to feel as though the world does not care about them and that political leaders have not done enough to address the issue or to make it a priority. She concluded her speech by thanking the ministers for making a commitment to ending sexual violence and said “rape is not a women’s issue, or a humanitarian issue. It is a global issue and it belongs here at the top table of international decision making where (William Hague) has put it.”

Other issues to be discussed at the conference include the current conflict in the Middle East, including Syria and Iran, security and stability across West and North Africa and climate change. 

Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie: Pictured here at the 4th Annual Women In The World Summit