Standing up for children everywhere. In her first official appearance (albeit digital) in months, Angelina Jolie spoke out about the International Criminal Court’s new policy on children in a taped message on Friday, November 18.
The Oscar winner, who is a special envoy to the United Nation’s High Commissioner for Refugees, recorded the message to coincide with the ICC’s launch of its policy on children, which highlights the severity of atrocity crimes against and affecting children.
“The impact of crimes against children is felt down the generations,” Jolie, 41, said in a video statement played at the Hague, in the Netherlands, on Friday. The Salt star said that mankind owes a debt to kids, adding, “We know we aren’t giving the best to children.”
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Jolie, who has six children with estranged husband Brad Pitt, previously visited the ICC in April and met with staff from the Trust Fund for Victims, which helps survivors of international war crimes and crimes against humanity.
“There can be no complete justice without consideration for the victims of the war crimes themselves, and the practical assistance they need to move on with their lives and overcome the harm they have suffered,” she said. “That is why the work of the trust fund is important and must be supported and strengthened over time.”
In her speech on Friday, Jolie said that successful prosecution of these crimes against defenseless minors “is part of the long and vital generational effort. That is the light in which I believe the court’s new policy on children should be seen.”
“I particularly welcome the commitment to include charges for crimes against children wherever the evidence permits as part of a more systematic approach,” she added. “I congratulate the office of the chief prosecutor and all those working on the policy.”
The actress and director has been laying low since late September, when she filed for divorce from her husband of two years.
She sought physical custody of the couple’s six children — Maddox, 15, Pax, 12, Zahara, 11, Shiloh, 10, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 8 — and requested that the Fight Club actor, 52, only get joint legal custody. (Pitt subsequently filed seeking joint custody.)
In the aftermath of her divorce filing, Pitt became the subject of a child abuse investigation for an altercation that allegedly occurred involving Maddox on a private jet. Pitt was subsequently cleared by the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, but an FBI investigation is ongoing.
