Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie says she hopes to empower children around the world with tools to ‘fight back’ for their rights with a book she has written with Amnesty International. “Know Your Rights and Claim Them” – written with human rights lawyer Geraldine Van Bueren, one of the original drafters of the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child – aims to equip kids with the knowledge to safely challenge injustices. “So many children are in harm’s way across the world and we’re simply not doing enough,” Jolie told Reuters in an interview. “These are their rights, decided years ago based on what would make them healthy, balanced, safe and stable adults.” Jolie, the special envoy for UN refugee agency UNHCR, said she hoped the book would also remind governments of their commitment to the global treaty enshrining children’s civil, social, political and economic rights. “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.’
So it’s a handbook to fight back.”
