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William Hague vows to exploit ‘unusual alliance’ with Angelina Jolie-Pitt for greater good
Former foreign secretary and Conservative Party leader joins Hollywood actress
and director at African Union summit to urge leaders to clamp down on sexual
violence in their countries
By Aislinn Laing, Johannesburg
3:29PM BST 12 Jun 2015
William Hague, the former British foreign
secretary, has vowed to use his “unusual alliance” with Angelina
Jolie-Pitt to continue fighting sexual violence in the world’s most
troubled regions.
Mr Hague said he
and the Hollywood actress had accepted a rare invitation for outsiders
to an African Union summit in Johannesburg in a bid to persuade largely
male African leaders to take responsibility for the epidemic.
Mrs Jolie-Pitt told African foreign ministers that a groundswell of
support for womens’ rights by their citizens meant their remaining in
power depended on upholding them.
She said that sexual violence was not a uniquely African problem but
added: “few parts of the world have suffered as much as nations in
Africa”.
“There is a global epidemic
of violence against women – both within conflict zones and within
societies at peace – and it is still treated as a lesser crime and lower
priority,” she 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.”
Her appearance at the concrete convention centre
in Sandton, Johannesburg’s business capital, enlivened the usually
stolid proceedings and drew a large crowd to the centre’s main
auditorium.
Mr Hague said the pair would continue to press their
Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative, which they established in 2012,
until they saw tangible changes by governments.
“It can be done –
we are starting to make progress and there are a number of countries in
Africa changing laws and training security forces to prevent it from
happening,” he told The Telegraph.
“This is a key responsibility
for men as well as women. There are a lot of male foreign ministers
around that table and these crimes are committed by men and we men
alongside leading women have to make sure they are challenged.”
The Yorkshire-born former Conservative Party leader conceded his pairing
with Lara Croft actress drew attention and said he was happy to exploit
it for the greater good.
“It’s an unusual alliance absolutely
but it does seem to work in drawing attention to the issue and drawing
support: the diplomacy of a major country like the UK and the global
recognition and reach of someone like Angelina Jolie-Pitt," he said.
"Because we have now worked on it for three years, we are sufficiently
well-known around the world for doing it and we get a hearing.”
