Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie appeared together yesterday at a global summit on ending sexual violence in conflict, in a show of celebrity power that British Foreign Secretary William Hague said was helping put a spotlight on the issue of rape as a weapon of war.

Dressed in black, Pitt and Jolie flanked Hague at the opening of the third day of a four-day summit in London that is the culmination of two years’ joint work by the actress and Hague.

Up to 1,200 government ministers, officials, activists and members of judiciaries and militaries from more than 120 countries are at the summit that aims to find practical steps to punish those responsible for sex violence and help victims.

Hague said his partnership with Oscar-winning Jolie, special envoy of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), had put the issue of sexual violence in conflict on the world agenda and was an example of how foreign policy could be conducted in the future.

“She brings what governments can’t... [as] there was no really big government of the world driving this,” Hague told a small media briefing including Reuters.

Jolie’s involvement in humanitarian issues dates back to 2001 when she travelled to Sierra Leone as a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador and saw the impact of years of civil war when an estimated 60,000 women were raped.

The actress, 39, has attended the summit since the start on Tuesday but her partner, Pitt, joined her for the first time yesterday for the opening plenary.

“We, as an international community, have never done enough to stop this abuse and we do survivors a disservice when they know we are aware but do nothing to hold the perpetrators accountable,” Jolie told the summit yesterday.