Angelina Jolie Gets Support from Sophie, Countess of Wessex in Fight to Prevent Sexual Violence
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- Published on Friday, 15 March 2019 06:26
- Written by People
Angelina Jolie is getting royal help in fighting against sexual abuse.Countess Sophie Wessex announced on Thursday that she would be joining Jolie and support her Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI), which was set up by the activist and actress along with former British foreign secretary William Hague in 2012.Wessex, who married Queen Elizabeth‘s youngest son Prince Edward in 1999, made the announcement the day before International Women’s Day.“Against a backdrop of ugly headlines for women, revelations of sexual exploitation, and the abuse suffered by those in war zones, it is easy to overlook the pioneering work of change-makers,” Wessex, 54, wrote for British outlet the Telegraphthis link opens in a new tab. “Brave women that stand for progress, even when their physical security and basic aspirations are under threat. Only when women and men work alongside each other as equals will the world see sustained improvement in conflict resolution and a reduction in sexual violence in conflict.”Jolie, 43, has been a vocal supporter of fighting against sexual violence in war since starting PSVI, and most recently spoke at a film festival put on by the initiative in London in Nov. 2018. Wessex was also in attendance.Jolie described the crime as “an urgent international issue,” adding that “changing attitudes and laws, and challenging stigma and impunity for sexual violence in all our societies is the work of generations. It’s all of you, it’s all of us together.”The festival featured 35 movies focusing on the discrimination and social stigma faced by survivors of warzone rape and other forms of sexual violence in conflict. The filmmakers came from 14 different countries including Syria, Burma, Russia and Nigeria.“I can only imagine the kind of difficulties that many of you have faced to get to this point in your lives,” Jolie said warmly to the filmmakers gathered at the British Film Institute.
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source : People 
Angelina Jolie visits Rohingya camp in Bangladesh to prepare for United Nations appeal for $1 BILLION in aid
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- Published on Wednesday, 06 February 2019 04:21
- Written by Daily mail
Hollywood superstar Angelina Jolie visited a Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh on Monday ahead of a new UN appeal for nearly $1 billion dollars to look after the refugee influx.After arriving in the South Asian nation, Jolie, a special envoy of the UN Refugee agency UNHCR, went straight to a camp in Teknaf near the Myanmar border to talk to some of the 720,000 Muslims who fled a military clampdown in the neighboring state in August 2017.The 43-year-old made no immediate public comment, but Cox's Bazar district deputy police chief Ikbal Hossain told AFP that Jolie will be visiting more camps on Tuesday.The Maleficent star was all smiles while getting off the plane, wearing a white button-up shirt under a flowing black coat and black pants while wearing sunglasses and carrying a brown bag.She was later spotted in all black ensemble, with a black wrap over her head, with a black shirt, black pants and black boots.While this is the actress' first visit to Bangladesh, she had previously met with Rohingya refugees during a 2015 visit to Myanmar and again in 2006 during a visit to India.Jolie is in Bangladesh to assess the humanitarian needs of the one million Rohingya in camps around the town of Cox's Bazar.She has previously met with displaced Rohingya while in Myanmar in July 2015 and in India in 2006.Bangladesh has been reeling since more than 730,000 Rohingya arrived from Myanmar after August 2017. More than 620,000 of the Muslims live in the Kutupalong camp, the world's largest refugee settlement.There were already about 300,000 in the camps before the exodus which has strained Bangladesh's resources to the limit.
Jolie will conclude her visit by meeting Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen, and other senior officials in Dhaka, a UNHCR statement said.The talks will focus on how the UNHCR can help Bangladesh's efforts for the Rohingya and the need for "sustainable solutions" to settle the persecuted minority, the statement added.The UN is to soon launch a new international appeal for $920 million to meet the needs of Rohingya refugees and the communities hosting them, the refugee agency said.'(Jolie) will definitely have a message to take back from here. We hope that the humanitarian community understands the kind of crisis the Rohingya are in through her,' said Refugee, Relief and Repatriation Commission (RRRC) commissioner Abul Kalam.Jolie will be visiting refugee camps over the next three days, while also visiting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen. Jolie hasn't starred in a live-action movie since 2015's By the Sea, which she starred in alongside then-husband Brad Pitt, which she also directed.She also directed 2017's First They Killed My Father, and she'll make her return to acting in 2020 with Maleficent 2, reprising her title role from the 2014 blockbuster.Jolie also has The One And Only Ivan and Come Away in post-production, and she is also attached to star in Those Who Wish Me Dead for writer-director Taylor Sheridan (Wind River).
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source : Daily mail 
Angelina Jolie praises UK's role in tacking sexual violence in warzones during London film festival enabling survivors to tell their stories
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- Published on Monday, 26 November 2018 03:52
- Written by Daily mail
American actress Angelina Jolie has spoken out against sexual violence in global war zones during a Government film event in London.Held at the British Film Institute, 38 movies and documentaries are being shown as part of a festival enabling survivors to tell their stories.The United Nations envoy spoke at the event, which aims to tackle rape and sexual violence in conflict zones.Jolie welcomed the work of the festival, which was attended Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt.She said: 'I want to thank the British Government for hosting this festival and for recognising the power of storytelling as a tool to enhance empathy and understanding. 'I welcome what it says, that the Foreign Office is supporting art and artists, putting the issue of sexual violence in conflict forward as an urgent international issue, allowing the voices of that set the agenda to be those of the survivors themselves.' Art highlighting the horrors of sexual violence in conflicts across the world was displayed in addition to the screenings.The event included the unveiling of a code to set the standard for evidence-gathering for investigating sexual violence in war zones and was backed by Lord Tariq Ahmad of Wimbledon, who is the UK Government's special representative on such violence.Hunt tweeted about the event, writing: 'With @Refugees envoy Angelina Jolie at #PSVI film festival to discuss new Murad Code, named after Nobel Peace Prize laureate @NadiaMuradBasee.'Code will set standard for gathering evidence of sexual violence in conflicts. There must be justice for survivors!' The code is named after Nadia Murad, a Yazidi human rights activist who was kidnapped at the hands of Islamic State.
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source : Daily Mail
Angelina Jolie looks elegant as she joins Sophie, Countess of Wessex at the Fighting Stigma Through Film festival for the Preventing Sexual Violence In Conflict initiative
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- Published on Saturday, 24 November 2018 16:53
- Written by Daily mail
She's been an avid philanthropist ever since she first witnessed the crisis in war-torn Cambodia while filming Lara Croft: Tomb Raider in 2001.And Angelina Jolie continued her humanitarian work as she attended the Fighting Stigma Through Film festival at the BFI in London on Friday evening.The actress, 43, was joined at the event by Sophie, Countess of Wessex, and the women looked to be deep in conversation as they spoke together at the event.Angelina looked elegant as she arrived at the goodwill event wearing a chic white dress, which she had cinched at the waist with a statement belt.The Maleficent star added a glamorous flair to her ensemble with a lace undershirt, while she boosted her height in silver heels, while earlier on she wrapped up in a black longline coat.Her brunette locks were styled in a slicked back style which allowed her hair to fall in loose waves over her shoulders and frame her face well.Angelina highlighted her pretty features by wearing a slick of bright red lipstick, black eyeliner and smokey eye shadow.he royal looked demure in a navy blue coat, which she secured at the waist with a tightly knotted belt, and teamed up with a matching sleek shirt.Sophie pulled her blonde locks back into a glamorous bun, while she brushed on a natural palette of make-up and accessorised with a pair of jewel earrings.Both women appeared to be in high spirits together, clearly getting on well as the Countess of Wessex patted her on the arm as they spoke with each other.Angelina was seen walking alongside fellow actor Chiwetel Ejiofor, 41, who looked dapper in a pair of denim jeans and a blue blazer, which he teamed up with a chequered shirt and grey scarf.While the actress was also spotted talking with Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Jeremy Hunt, who spent much of the evening discussing the event alongside her.Angelina is one of the key guests of the film festival, which aims to use the power of cinema to help fight and prevent discrimination faced by survivors of sexual violence in conflict.
The actress is also a co-founder of the Preventing Sexual Violence In Conflict initiative, which hosted the event. 38 films and documentaries will be screened over two days at the event, sharing the stories of survivors and inspiring others to work alongside them.Leslie Thomas’ film The Prosecutors will have its world premiere at the festival, and other events include thought-provoking art installations, as well as organisations' showcases, and workshops led by prominent experts in the field. Angelina set up the Preventing Sexual Violence In Conflict initiative with William Hague in 2014, which has worked tirelessly to help those affected in countries like South Sudan and the Democratic Republic Of Congo.Talking about the initiative on Friday, according to The Guardian Hague said to young filmmakers: 'We’ve made a tremendous start, but it’s only a start because as things stand, no member of Isil or Boko Haram or the armed forces of Burma has been brought to trial for crimes of sexual violence.'The former foreign secretary added that it has been 'very difficult' to measure the success of the programme because of the scale of the problem, citing the 'tens of thousands of people raped in war in South Sudan'.This is not the first humanitarian project the Malificent star has set up, as she opened a foundation, now called the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation, in Cambodia in 2003.The foundation acts as a conservation and community development program in the Samlout Protected Area.The UNHCR special envoy was also inspired by the country to make her Golden Globe nominated movie, First They Killed My Father.Based on Cambodia human rights activist Luong Ung’s memoir, the film documents her experience as a young girl under the brutal rule of the Khmer Rouge.Angelina spoke to Vanity Fair in 2017 about her first visit to the country, and said: 'I found a people who were so kind and warm and open, and, yes, very complex.'You go there, and you see the families come out with their blanket and their picnic to watch a sunset,' she explained.Angelina shares sons Maddox, 17, and Pax, 14, daughters Zahara, 13, and Shiloh, 12, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 10, with her ex-husband Brad Pitt.
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source : Daily Mail
Angelina Jolie to guest-edit Radio 4's Today programme: Actress will feature refugees and violence against women when she takes reins of the flagship BBC show
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- Published on Thursday, 22 November 2018 04:20
- Written by Daily mail
She has combined a hugely successful Hollywood career with campaigning on a range of issues close to her heart.So Angelina Jolie will not be short of ideas for stories to pursue when she guest-edits BBC Radio 4’s Today programme over Christmas.Since 2003 the flagship current affairs show has invited prominent public figures to become the editor for a day during the festive period.Jolie, 43, will take the reins on December 28, when she will highlight the issues of violence against women in conflict zones and the refugee crisis.She will speak to refugees and survivors of conflict directly during the show.The mother-of-six, actress and campaigner has already begun work on her stint at Today.Her spokesman said she is ‘grateful’ for the opportunity ‘to draw on the BBC’s global expertise and network to explore practical solutions to a number of pressing issues of our time’.He added: ‘She has already begun working with the Today programme team and is looking forward to engaging a broad and diverse range of voices in the programme.’Jolie will not be briefing John Humphrys on the issues as Justin Webb and Mishal Husain are due to present that day.Other guest editors will include outgoing Question Time host David Dimbleby, 80. Meanwhile, the subject of ‘outer space’ will be explored in a separate, theme-based episode of the Radio 4 programme.Dimbleby will join Kamila Shamsie, winner of the Women's prize for fiction, the founder of lastminute.com Lady Lane-Fox, the Churchill biographer, Andrew Roberts, and Chidera Eggrue, the fashion blogger and campaigner on female body issues. Last year the Duke of Sussex was among the guest editors of the show, interviewing his own father, the Prince of Wales, and former US president Barack Obama.Actress Carey Mulligan, comedian Sir Lenny Henry, House of Commons Speaker John Bercow and Professor Stephen Hawking have also previously steered Today for special Christmas editions.
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source : Daily Mail
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