Angelina Jolie speaks out against rape in war

On Monday, actress and director Angelina Jolie urged a Japanese audience to join her in a fight to end violence in war zones.

“In the Land of Blood and Honey”, which is Jolie’s first film acting as writer and director, has hopes of inspiring viewers to think about rape in war.

“This is just a beginning,” she said. “Our aim must be to shatter impunity, so that rape can no longer be used as a weapon of war anywhere in the world as it was in Bosnia, and as it is today from Congo to Syria.”

Jolie, who serves as a special envoy for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees was speaking at a special screening event at the University of Tokyo on Monday. The speech was a part of her campaign launched with British Foreign Secretary William Hague.

Jolie said she hoped her film would inspire Japanese viewers to think further about the problem and take action.