Angelina Jolie.Photo: Jordan Pix/Getty Images; Zest Books
Angelina Jolieis an advocate for children around the world — and she wants to help them “fight back” with a new book.
“So many children are in harm’s way across the world and we’re simply not doing enough,” Jolie, 46, told the outlet. “These are their rights, decided years ago based on what would make them healthy, balanced, safe and stable adults.”
Jolie hopes that the book will help governments remember their long-made promise to protect the health and happiness of children.
“We spent a lot of time blocking those rights, so this book is to help the kids have a tool book to say, ‘These are your rights, these are things you need to question to see how far you, depending on your country and circumstance, are from accessing those rights, what are your obstacles, others that came before you and fought, ways you can fight,’ " she told Reuters. “So it’s a handbook to fight back.”
Zest Books
In 1989, Van Bueren and other activists drafted theUN Convention on the Rights of the Child, a global agreement that recognized that a “child should be fully prepared to live an individual life in society, and brought up in the spirit of the ideals proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations, and in particular in the spirit of peace, dignity, tolerance, freedom, equality and solidarity.”
Jolie, who serves as Special Envoy for the UNHCR, was upset when she learned that the United States has not ratified the UN Convention, according to the outlet.
“That infuriated me and made me start to question what does that mean?” she said, per Reuters. “So for each country, what is this idea of, you have the right to an education … but then why is it so many children are out of school? Why is it the girls in Afghanistan are being harmed if they go?”
Know Your Rights and Claim Themis Jolie’s way of addressing these injustices. It outlines the rights that children were promised in the UN Convention, highlights the work of young activists like Greta Thunberg and Malala Yousafzai, and teaches readers how to stand up for themselves.
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“This book is a guide for every young person who believes in a better world for all,” said Yousafzai, according to the book description.
Just last month, Jolieemphasized the importance of young voicesin a special way.
She joined Instagram on Aug. 20 and dedicated her first post to the current situation in Afghanistan as numerous Afghansseek safety from the Talibanin the wakeof the withdrawal of U.S. troops.
“This is a letter I was sent from a teenage girl in Afghanistan,” Jolie’scaption reads alongside a photo of the handwritten note. “Right now, the people of Afghanistan are losing their ability to communicate on social media and to express themselves freely. So I’ve come on Instagram to share their stories and the voices of those across the globe who are fighting for their basic human rights.”
Know Your Rights and Claim Themwill be published in the U.S. on Oct. 5.
source: people.com
