Yahoo – AFP,
10 June 2014
Angelina
Jolie and British Foreign Secretary William Hague pay their respects
at
Srebrenica-Potocari Genocide Memorial cemetery on March 28, 2014 (AFP
Photo/Elvis Barukcic)
|
London
(AFP) - Co-hosts Angelina Jolie and British Foreign Secretary William Hague
will on Tuesday open a four-day summit on ending sexual violence in conflict,
the biggest meeting ever held on the subject.
Senior
officials from over 100 countries, including US Secretary of State John Kerry,
will join over 900 experts, NGOs, survivors and religious leaders at London's
Excel Centre.
Writing in
London's Evening Standard newspaper, Kerry said delegates would work to
"relegate sexual violence to the annals of history".
"Sexual
violence plagues every country," he wrote. "Acts of sexual violence
demean our collective humanity.
"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."
The top US
diplomat insisted that sexual violence in armed conflict be treated as a major
international crime and that every government deny safe haven to those who
"commit these vile acts."
"We
must declare in unison: 'They can't run and they won't hide here'," he
added.
Film
forced Hague to act
It was
Jolie's film "In the Land of Blood and Honey" which first alerted
Hague to the extent of sexual violence in conflict zones, he has said.
The British
cabinet minister and Hollywood A-Lister Jolie, a Special Envoy for the UN
Commissioner for Refugees, have since visited the Democratic Republic of the
Congo and Bosnia as part of their campaign to bring the issue to the world's
attention.
Jolie's
2011 film, which marked her directorial debut, is a love story told against the
backdrop of the Bosnian war two decades ago, when according to Hague some
50,000 women were raped.
Hague hopes
the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict, which runs until Friday,
will create "so much momentum that we begin to shatter the culture of
impunity."
"If
women are still treated in this abhorrent way in times of war, they will never
be treated as equals in times of peace, and that cannot be tolerated," he
added.
Journalist
Jineth Bedoya Lima, survivor of sexual violence in Colombia's conflict, will be
one of speakers.
"For
the first time in history a world summit highlights and denounces a crime that
is normally made invisible and is often silenced by the majority of
states," she said.
Actress
Angelina Jolie and British Foreign Secretary William Hague lay wreaths
at the
Gisozi genocide memorial in Kigali on March 26, 2013 (AFP Photo/Stephanie
Aglietti)
|
The stated
aims of the conference are to "shatter the culture of impunity" by
launching a new International Protocol, to take practical steps to reduce the
dangers women face in conflict zones, to increase support for survivors of
sexual violence and to "debunk the myth that rape in war is somehow
inevitable or a lesser crime."
Hague and
Jolie will on Tuesday take part in meetings with youth delegates and on
Wednesday are due to attend an event to launch the International Protocol.
On
Thursday, Hague will host delegations from over 100 countries and will chair a
ministerial meeting on security in northern Nigeria.
UN
Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon (by video message) and US Secretary of State John
Kerry will speak in a closing plenary session on Friday.
There will
also be over 140 free events open to the public as part of the three-day Global
Summit Fringe, which runs until Thursday.
The event
will feature film, music, theatre and debate.
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