Bardem Joins the Kennedy Center’s Speak Truth To Power Initiative,

Javier Bardem is encouraging students around the world to speak the truth.

The 44-year-old actor has officially thrown his support behind the Robert F. Kennedy Center‘s Speak Truth To Power initiative, which is spearheaded by Kerry Kennedy.

Javier Bardem

Bardem and Kennedy gave a presentation in Madrid on Thursday to spotlight the educational project, which targets 15 to 18-year-old students.

Based on Kennedy’s book of the same title, which was released in 2000 and includes testimonies and opinions on human rights from 51 international figures like Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama, Speak Truth to Power is a global educational initiative that uses the experiences of courageous human rights defenders to inspire young people to take action.

Kennedy, the seventh of Ethel and Robert Kennedy’s 11 children, and Bardem met each other through his personal advocacy on behalf of the Saharawi people and their plight as refugees in the Western Sahara.

Bardem told the crowd of journalists gathered for the presentation that he simply knocked on her door and asked if he could help.

The actor gained a reputation for human rights work after he produced and starred in the 2012 documentary Sons of the Clouds, which looks at how colonization of the Western Sahara has left nearly 200,000 people living in refugee camps.

Click here to learn more about Speak Truth to Power.