Angelina Jolie is asking British lawmakers to help stop ISIS from raping women

Actor and United Nations special envoy Angelina Jolie spoke pointedly to a British parliamentary committee Tuesday about the importance of addressing sexual violence in light of ISIS, The Guardian reports. The terrorist group reportedly rapes and sexually assaults women routinely, and even forces them into prostitution.

"The brutalization of women and girls is central to their ideology," UN official Zainab Bangura once told the Middle East Eye.

Jolie appeared in front of the sexual violence in conflict committee to update them on the initiative she started three years ago with former British secretary William Hague, which aims to help policymakers take action and set good examples for other nations by implementing more military training on sexual violence and integrating prevention into defense missions.

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“The most aggressive terrorist group in the world today knows what we know, knows that [sexual violence] is a very effective weapon, and [is] using it as a center point of their terror and their way of destroying communities and families and attacking, destroying, and dehumanizing," Jolie said.

The actor also described meeting with a 13-year-old Iraqi girl and her friends who had been raped repeatedly.

"They told me that what was even worse than the physical violence was that they then had to stand in rooms and watch their friends be sold, and to hear about what they were worth," Jolie Pitt said. "Were they worth $40? $50? What was their value?"