GIANLUIGI GUERCIA/AFP/Getty ImagesAngelina Jolie-Pitt is encouraging world leaders to end violence against women.
Speaking at a panel on conflict at the African Union Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, the 40-year old actress — a special envoy to the United Nations High Commission of Refugees — addressed issues of rape and a “global epidemic of violence against women…within conflict zones and within societies at peace.”
“’It is still treated as a lesser crime and lower priority,” Jolie said. “’The near-total impunity that exists worldwide for crimes against women in conflict zones in particular, means that we are seeing more and more armed groups turn to it as a weapon of choice. Women and girls are bearing the brunt of extremists that revel in treating them barbarically.”
Jolie also praised African women for their “extraordinary resilience, dignity and strength in the face of trials that would break any of us.”
She closed her speech by calling on women to be an active part of the solution. “’We need policies for long-term security that are designed by women, focused on women, executed by women — not at the expense of men, or instead of men, but alongside and with men,” she said. “There is no greater pillar of stability than a strong, free and educated woman, and there is no more inspiring role model than a man who respects and cherishes women and champions their leadership.’
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