Angelina Jolie and William Hague speak out against rape in war zones

Angelina Jolie was greeted in Whitehall by the Foreign Secretary William Hague yesterday as she offered Hollywood backing to the Government's global campaign against sexual violence.

The Oscar-winning actress spoke to an audience at the Foreign Office for an advance screening of her controversial new film In The Land Of Blood And Honey, which depicts the rape of Muslim and Croat women during the Bosnian War.

The event marked the establishment of a UK initiative aimed at increasing the number of prosecutions for sexual violence in conflicts across the world.

Margot Wallström, the UN special envoy on Sexual Violence in Conflict, has said "there have been just 30 convictions in response to an estimated 50,000 rapes during the years of war" in the Balkans.

Mr Hague said: "It is in the context of war and conflict that sexual violence is found to the most appalling degree, and on a scale most of us cannot imagine."

Jolie has been made an honorary citizen of Sarajevo in light of the film, her directorial debut, but it has also been criticised by some victims of rape committed during the war.