Maybe they haven't seen Maleficent, Angelina? Hollywood star Jolie meets some rather unimpressed-looking novice monks on UN trip to Burma
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- Published on Wednesday, 30 November -0001 00:00
- Written by Daily mail
Angelina Jolie has paid a visit to a Buddhist monastery and was pictured bowing to some young monks during the third day of her UN visit to Burma. The actress and humanitarian campaigner was there to meet with religious leaders from the Myanmar Interfaith Group in Yangon.She was also taken to watch a project run by Yaung Chi Thit - meaning 'New Life' - Voters Education Group which is aimed at protecting young people from political violence and getting them involved in democracy.Jolie had been due to visit Rakhine state today where thousands of Rohingya Muslims live in squalid conditions in slum housing and camp.However, downpours from Cyclone Komen have closed the region's airport and left large part inaccessible, so the visit has been postponed and may have to be cancelled altogether. The Oscar-winning star, who is also a special envoy for the United Nations' refugee agency, arrived in Myanmar on Wednesday on a four-day visit.She spent her first day meeting with politicians, including President Thein Sein in capital Naypyidaw before heading to Kachin state in the north yesterday, where civil war has raged since 2011.In a statement released today by the British embassy, she said: 'This visit underlined the vulnerability of women and girls living in protracted conflict situations to sexual violence, trafficking, and other human rights violations.'It was moving and humbling to meet survivors of sexual violence in Kachin State.' She said local aid groups were working hard to help victims, but added there was 'an urgent need for more medical assistance and legal and psychosocial support' as well as a 'strong legal framework to ensure all perpetrators of sexual violence are held accountable'.
Myanmar is still beset by the legacy of dozens of long-raging civil wars in its border areas, a handful of which are still being fought.The army had ruled the country with an iron fist for decades before handing power to Thein Sein's quasi-civilian government in 2011.It has long been accused of severe human rights abuses including sexual violence and using forced labour. Rebels have also been accused of abuses.Jolie's visit comes after an invitation from opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, according to the British Embassy.Officials from the embassy are working with the actress as part of the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative, which promotes prosecutions of sexual violence perpetrators. Jolie flew to Myanmar after a brief visit to Cambodia where she plans to direct a film for Netflix about Cambodia's Khmer Rouge regime seen through the eyes of a war-scarred child.She was accompanied for that portion of the trip by her 14-year-old son Maddox, who was adopted from Cambodia.
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