‘No disgrace’: Angelina Jolie and William Hague lead rape summit

On her arrival at the summit in east London, the Hollywood star dedicated the four-day event to an unnamed and “abandoned” victim of rape in Bosnia.

Foreign Secretary William Hague also announced that the UK will pledge a further £6 million to support survivors of sexual violence in conflict.

Mr Hague said it is only a “weak or inadequate man” that abuses women.

In a speech that was met with cheers and loud applause, Tomb Raider star Jolie said: “We must send a message around the world that there is no disgrace in being a survivor of sexual violence, that the shame is on the aggressor.”

She said it is a “myth” that rape is an inevitable part of conflict.

“There is nothing inevitable about it - it is a weapon of war aimed at civilians.

“It has nothing to do with sex, everything to do with power,” she said.

The actress told the crowd at the opening of the End Sexual Violence in Conflict (ESVC) summit that she has met survivors in countries including Afghanistan and Somalia, and they are “just like us, with one crucial difference”.

She said: “We live in safe countries with doctors we can go to when we’re hurt, police we can turn to when we’re wronged, and institutions that protect us.

“They live in refugee camps, on bombed-out streets, in areas where there is no law, no protection, and not even the hope of justice.”

Jolie said the international community needs to work to make “justice the norm”.

She called for all armies, peacekeeping troops and police forces to have prevention of sexual violence in conflict as part of their training.

“This whole subject has been taboo for far too long,” she said.

Jolie said the stigma causes survivors to suffer feelings of “shame” and “worthlessness”.

“It feeds ignorance, such as the notion that rape has anything to do with normal sexual impulses.

“But most of all it allows the rapist to get away with it.

“They feel above the law because the law rarely touches them and society tolerates them,” she said.

Speaking as she arrived at the ExCeL conference centre in London’s Docklands, the actress spoke about how she and Mr Hague met a woman earlier this year during a campaigning trip to Bosnia.

She said the woman was too humiliated to tell her own child that she had been raped - and had seen her attacker “on the streets, free”.

Speaking to the press, Jolie said: “I am so, so happy to be here, it has been long in coming, we have worked on this for quite a while.

“On our way over, we spoke about the women we met recently on our last trip, and in particular one woman, who said that she had yet to tell her child that she had been raped because she was so humiliated and she could not bring herself to admit it to him.

“And she felt that, having had no justice for her particular crime, in her particular situation, and having seen the actual man who raped her on the streets, free, she really felt abandoned by the world.

“On the way over, we thought ‘What is she going to think of this day?’. This day is for her.”

The 39-year-old star, dressed in white, made her way around various stalls and exhibits run by charities and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) shortly after her arrival.

Large numbers of people, keen to get a photograph of the world-famous actress, followed her around, holding their camera-phones aloft.

The ESVC conference - with 117 countries represented - aims to draw up an international agreement on standards for documenting and investigating sexual violence in conflict zones in an attempt to ensure justice for victims.

Campaigners are also pressing for armies to be trained to prevent sexual violence in conflict zones and for more support for survivors.