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Profile: Arminka Helic

Arminka Helic

29/11/2014

BBC Radio 4 - Profile, Arminka Helic

Mark Coles profiles the refugee from Bosnia as she takes her seat in the House of Lords.

Mark Coles profiles Arminka Helic, the refugee from Bosnia responsible for the alliance between William Hague and Angelina Jolie, as she takes her seat in the House of Lords.

One of the less likely political partnerships of recent years has been that of the Conservative Foreign Secretary William Hague and the Hollywood actor and director Angelina Jolie. 

They joined forces three years ago to campaign against rape as a weapon of war, and jointly hosted an international conference in London last summer. 

This week Mark Coles profiles the woman who brought them together; a refugee from Bosnia who has just taken her seat in the House of Lords. She is Arminka Helic, for ten years a special adviser to William Hague. 

Hague himself tells us how in 2011 Helic brought Jolie's film "In The Land of Blood and Honey" to him, a film that portrays the tactical use of mass rape against civilians. Helic told him it was a film he needed to watch. 

Producers: Tim Mansel and Hannah Moor.

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