Angelina Jolie aims to recruit academics to fight sexual violence in war

Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie said she hoped Britain's first academic center devoted to women, peace and security studies would benefit millions of girls, like an Iraqi teenager she met who had been kept as a sex slave by Islamic State. Opening the center at the London School of Economics - the first of its kind - on Tuesday, Jolie recalled the 13-year-old girl she spoke to in Iraq three weeks ago, who was held captive by Islamic State militants and repeatedly raped. The girl may never finish her schooling, get married or have children because rape was considered shameful in her society, Jolie said. "Where it is considered acceptable for a husband to reject his wife and the mother of his children because she was raped, or normal for a woman to be forced to marry her rapist." The actress, joined by former foreign minister William Hague, said she hoped research done by the center would produce hard data on sexual violence in war and find ways to end impunity for crimes that take place in war zones.

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