Angelina Jolie speaks out against ISIS' use of rape

Human rights activist Angelina Jolie told the Houses of Parliament that ISIS' use of rape as a "policy" and "center point of their terror" is beyond horrible. She backed up her claim with an example of a 7-year-old girl's story of being raped in a war zone.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - "I think the most important thing to understand is what it's not. It's not sexual, it is a violent brutal terrorizing weapon," Jolie said about ISIS' use of rape.

"The most aggressive terrorist group in the world today knows what we know, knows that it is a very effective weapon," Jolie continued. 

Tuesday, September 8, Jolie stood before the Houses of Parliament alongside Secretary William Hague to readdress sexual violence and warned of the destruction such acts leave behind.

"This is what is beyond something we have seen before. This is actually put into their policy ... They are saying 'we should do this, this is the right way to build a society, so we tell you to rape," the activist said.

Last year, ISIS made rape a central part of its doctrine and were encouraged by the Koran which apparently "condones and encourages" non-Muslim women.

Jolie saw first-hand the destruction rapists leave in their wake and in her opening statement said:
"For over 10 years I had been visiting the field and meeting 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 ... probably about seven or eight and she was rocking backwards and forwards staring at the wall, and tears streaming down her face because she had been brutally raped multiple times, you couldn't talk to her, you couldn't touch her. I felt absolutely helpless, I didn't know what to do for her."

Jolie continued, describing the story a thirteen-year-old girl told her about the filthy conditions, brutal attacks and how they were forced to stand and hear men argue about their worth.

"Whether they were $40, $50. What was the price of them, what was their value and how humiliating that was. It made [the girl] question what she was worth," Jolie said.

The human rights activist thanked the UK for its leadership with the rape crisis and admitted that standing next to Hague when he told young victims in Conga to "have no shame, that it's not their fault, that the shame should be on the perpetrators and that he would do what he could" meant a "great deal" to her.

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