Angelina Jolie in Saravejo for a Mission
On Thursday, Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie arrived in Saravejo with British Foreign Secretary William Hague to attend a conference on sexual violence in war on Friday.
The conference was organised by Bosnia's defence ministry. The conference was held in support of Ms Jolie and Mr Hague's campaign to end rape as weapon of war.
Ms Jolie and Mr Hague will be meeting rape survivors of the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia. The duo will also be speaking with the country's judges, prosecutors and other key officials who are working on rape cases that accumulated through the years of wars.
The duo will also address ministers, political leaders and senior officials at a regional military conference in order to discuss the ways that institutions could be of help in Bosnia.
Speaking in a press conference, Ms Jolie said that their visit is particularly aimed to meet with victims in Bosnia.
"We are here to meet victims of the war in Bosnia, female and male survivors of rape who carry a terrible burden. The use of rape as a weapon of war is one of the great injustices of our time. For too long the world has tolerated these crimes, and left survivors to struggle in the shadows. Our goal is to bring forward the voices of the survivors of these crimes and to ask the world to stand with them and against impunity."
"Tens of thousands of women, girls and men were raped during the war in Bosnia. We are visiting to draw the world's attention to their search for justice, and to call for global action to end the use of rape as a weapon of war once and for all. In London in ten weeks' time we will be asking nations around the world to make that decisive commitment, so that from Bosnia to the DRC survivors get the justice they need, and future mass rape can be prevented. We can and must change the entire global attitude to these crimes, and shatter the culture of impunity," Mr Hague said.
Ms Jolie was appointed as Special Envoy of UN High Commissioner for Refugees by António Guterres back in April of 2012.
On June, Ms Jolie and Mr Hague will co-host the three-day Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict to be held in London.