The Hollywood star and UN special envoy who is a long-standing
campaigner gave a heartbreaking account of young girls she has met in
conflict zones who have been repeatedly raped and sold off for as little
as $40 each. The actress appeared alongside former Foreign Secretary
William Hague before the House of Lords Committee to speak about their
campaign against sexual violence in conflict.
"For over 10 years I had been visiting the field and meeting with
families and survivors of sexual violence who felt for so long that
their voices simply didn’t matter – they weren’t heard and they carried a
great shame. I remember distinctly meeting this little girl, who was
very young – probably about 7 or 8 – and she was rocking backwards and
forwards and staring at the wall and tears streaming down her face
because she had been brutally raped multiple times." She said.
According to The Independent, Jolie described how she had felt
"absolutely helpless" after meeting one young girl who refused to speak
to anyone after being "brutally raped multiple times".
She said what was even worse than the physical violence was the feeling
of worthlessness they felt when men bartered over their monetary value
when selling them off as sex slaves.
"More recently I met a 13-year-old girl in Iraq who had been kept in a
room with many other girls. They were taken out in twos, brought to this
very dirty room with this dirty couch and raped repeatedly. They told
me what was even worse than this physical violence was they had to stand
in rooms and watch their friends be sold. To hear men arguing over what
they were worth. Were they worth $40, $50? What was the price, their
value? And how humiliating that was."
Updating the committee on progress since then, Angelina said:
"The most important thing is to understand what it's not: it's not
sexual, it's a violent, brutal, terrorizing weapon, and it is used
unfortunately everywhere. The most aggressive terrorist group in the
world today knows what we know; knows that it is a very effective weapon
and [is] using it as a center point of their terror and their way of
destroying communities and families and attacking, destroying and
dehumanizing."
She added:
"I know what would happen to my family if I were raped or my
daughters were raped. All of you sitting in this room. What would that
do to their lives, to your family structure? You would want to know it
was wrong and that the world thought it was wrong and the person who did
this to you didn't just walk away."
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