Angelina Jolie has joined a global campaign to support the Pakistani teen activist who was shot in the head last week.
Malala Yousufzai, the 14-year-old girl who is recovering after getting shot by the Taliban for pushing for education rights, has garnered the support of numerous world leaders and celebrities, including Former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Madonna. Angelina Jolie threw her support behind the activist who’s fighting for her life, by educating her kids about Malala and penning an editorial about it in the Daily Beast Tuesday.
“Still trying to understand, my children asked, ‘Why did those men think they needed to kill Malala?’” Jolie writes. “I answered, ‘because an education is a powerful thing.’”
The “Tomb Raider” star’s fervor for the cause has likely been informed by her years of advocacy work. After 10 years of serving as a Goodwill Ambassador for the UNHCR, a role that enabled her to fight abuse and advocate for children, she was named Special Envoy of UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres in April for her efforts. In her current role with the UNHCR, Jolie is tasked with focusing on the crises displaced populations face.
Her humanitarian work for children like Malala hits home, too. Three of her six kids were adopted from Cambodia, Ethiopia and Vietnam.
While Malala is just one of 61 million children who have been denied the right to school, according to new figures to be published by UNESCO’s annual Global Monitoring Report, her plight is galvanizing renewed support for the critical cause.
“This terrible event marks the beginning of a necessary revolution in girls’ education,” Jolie writes. “Malala is proof that it only takes the voice of one brave person to inspire countless men, women, and children.”
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