Angelina Jolie on Nigerian schoolgirl kidnapping: ‘It’s because of this culture of impunity’

The Maleficent actress uses the premiere of her new film as a means of discussing the Nigerian abductees

Angelina Jolie: 'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger'

Angelina Jolie has offered her view on why over 200 school girls were kidnapped by Islamist militant group Boko Haram (scroll to watch video).

Talking at the London premiere of her new film Maleficent, the actress said that responsibility doesn't solely lie with the abductees, but also with our “culture of impunity”.

“These men thought that they can get away with this, that they could abuse them in such a way, sell them, rape them, take them as property, because so many people have gotten away with this in the past because of this culture of impunity,” she said.

Jolie – a United Nations Special Envoy for Refugees - will co-chair the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict in London next month, with Foreign Secretary William Hague.

She recently travelled to Bosnia to meet rape victims of the Bosnian war.

“One of the things we’re trying to do is not just do everything we can to bring these girls home, but make that this stops happening and that this is not something that people believe they can get away with,” she continued.

“Right now it is, so it’s our failing that it’s gotten to this point.”

She said urgent action is needed to ensure that incidents like this do not happen again.

“We have to start arresting people for this, we have to start bringing them to justice and we have to start making it an absolute crime that puts fear in these men so that they think twice about this kind of action,” she said.

Read more: Angelina Jolie on drugs and vials of blood
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie to work on new film together
Jolie moved to tears during Bosnia visit