Jolie and Hague's Mission to End Sexual Violence Overseas is Noble.

William Hague tells Cathy Newman he hopes the 'end war rape' summit will send a powerful message to those who abuse women in conflict zones. But what about changing the way women are treated in Britain's own back yard?

Whether the central aim is achievable or not, the vast effort is arrayed for all to see at the Excel Centre today. A hundred countries have been invited, along with 900 experts, survivors, pressure groups and faith leaders. Heck, even the Pope has tweeted about it.

Jolie appealed for a change in attitude on a topic she said has been taboo for too long. "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, to cheers from the audience. "We need to shatter that culture of impunity." 

Having travelled to conflict zones from Afghanistan to Somalia as a UN envoy, she said she wanted others to share in what she had learned, and dedicated the conference to a rape victim she and Hague recently met in Bosnia. 

"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," Jolie said. "This day is for her." 

The foreign secretary tells me in an interview broadcast on tonight’s Channel 4 News that he hopes all the noise and commotion will make people sit up and take notice. 

I hope he’s right. He’s previously described rape in conflict as “a monstrosity of our age”, and when I travelled with him and Jolie to the Congo last year, we heard horrific stories from some of the 200,000 women raped during the conflict there. 

So you can’t quibble with Hague’s determination to make this a defining issue of his career. But I wonder if his cabinet colleagues share his zeal. 

The rape conviction rate has dropped, so 40 per cent of rapes brought to trial now don’t result in a conviction. Alison Saunders, the director of public prosecutions, says she fears myths and stereotypes about rape persist. So as Hague shares his determination to “shatter the culture of impunity” and “take practical steps” to reduce the dangers women face around the world, it’s clear his colleague the home secretary, Theresa May, needs to do more to achieve those aims on a domestic front. 

And when it comes to increasing support for survivors of sexual violence, as the foreign secretary also pledges to do, it’s hard to see how that’s compatible with locking up asylum seekers who have been gang-raped in their home countries at the Yarl’s Wood removal centre in Bedfordshire. 

Hague tells me: “We have high standards in treating survivors. I’ve spoken to the home secretary, I know she’s committed to that, including the training of immigration officers, in how they treat people who have been through sexual violence. We have to uphold those standards in our asylum system too. Where there are complaints, they will be investigated.” 

But he supports locking up women who have been gang raped? The passion and sense of burning injustice I detected in Hague in the Congo gives way to the consummate politician. “I have every confidence in the home secretary dealing with this issue,” he says cryptically.

It’s the same when it comes to sex education. The foreign secretary is adamant violence against women must be tackled early, and that half the battle is educating young men and changing attitudes. 

"We want to encourage men to speak out, to agree with us that it is only a weak or inadequate man who abuses women. It's not a sign of strength. It is the ultimate weakness and shame," he said at the summit, to much applause. 

But the focus on a "change in attitudes" and sex education doesn’t seem to extend to our own education system.

Better Sex Education?

Telegraph Wonder Women’s campaign for better sex education in England and Wales, so school-children are taught about consent and respect in relationships, rather than learning it from the warped world of pornography, has been backed by politicians, charities and organisations as diverse as Mumsnet and the Girl Guides. But the education secretary Michael Gove has so far refused to act. 

And Hague too is reluctant to take a stand. I ask him why, when he’s issued a clarion call for the world to root out sexual violence against women, he won’t commit to educating British boys and girls about sex.

“I’m backing young people all over the world talking about these issues. But I’m not going to decide the education secretary’s policies for him,” he tells me. Does he have a view? “I will leave that to the education secretary,” he concludes. 

So yes, Hague’s to be applauded for staying the course on his campaign to end sexual violence. 

But perhaps a bit of joined-up thinking on women from the rest of the government wouldn’t go amiss too.