Angelina Jolie gives impactful speech on sexual violence

Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie has been known for her efforts for humanity around the world but this time the actress made a powerful speech on sexual violence while addressing the United Nations Peacekeeping Defense Ministerial Conference in Vancouver.

"Sexual violence is everywhere - in the industry where I work, in business, in universities, in politics, in the military and across the world," said the Oscar-winning actress. In the wake of so many big Hollywood names being accused of sexual assault, the actress was one of the first ones to come forward in admitting to being sexually harassed by filmmaker Harvey Weinstein.

"All too often, these kinds of crimes against women are laughed off, depicted as a minor offence by someone who cannot control themselves, as an illness, or as some kind of exaggerated sexual need," Jolie said in her keynote speech, reported The Independent. "But a man who mistreats women is not oversexed. He is abusive," she added.

Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow were sexually harassed by Harvey Weinstein

The 42-year-old, who is a Special Envoy for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, called for sexual violence to be recognized around the world as a weapon and 'a critical obstacle to achieving women's equality and our full human rights.'

"It is cheaper than a bullet and it has lasting consequences that unfold with sickening predictability that make it so cruelly effective," the ‘Salt’ actress further said. "This is rape and assault designed to torture, to terrorize, to force people to flee and to humiliate them."

"Even if we accept that sexual violence has nothing to do with sex, that it is a crime and that it is used as a weapon, many people still believe that it is simply not possible to do anything about it," she said.

"It is hard, but it is not impossible. We have the laws, the institutions, and the expertise in gathering evidence. We are able to identify perpetrators. What is missing is the political will."