On September 23rd, 2013, the Dominican Republic’s Constitutional Court retroactively stripped the citizenship of Dominicans born to people residing in the Dominican Republic without legal status between 1929 and 2010.
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The world has watched in horror as migrants and refugees from the Middle East and Africa have embarked on treacherous journeys across the Mediterranean Sea to Europe. On this World Refugee Day, the international spotlight, rightly, shines on this vast crisis—and American Jewish World Service stands in solidarity with human rights organizations working in Europe to mitigate the devastation. But we also hope the world will remember the scores of people from other parts of the globe forced to flee their homes.
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Today is the first anniversary of the worst earthquake to hit Nepal in more than eight decades. The 7.8 magnitude temblor—which was followed by countless aftershocks and a second powerful 7.3 magnitude quake two weeks later—killed nearly 9,000 people, injured more than 22,000 and displaced more than 188,000 in the small South Asian nation already …
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AJWS is in it for the long haul in Nepal, where recovery from the April 25, 2015, earthquake has been slow, to say the least. AJWS and other international donors have collectively sent billions of dollars to the recovering country, which was already one of the poorest in the world before it hit headlines. But an unprepared and inefficient government, massive fuel shortages and political conflicts have complicated and delayed the delivery of aid and services.
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On March 3rd, unknown assailants murdered Berta Cáceres, a Honduran human rights defender and environmental activist who dedicated her life to protecting the land and human rights of indigenous people. Berta and the organization she founded and directed, AJWS grantee Consejo Cívico de Organizaciones Populares e Indigenas de Honduras (COPINH), had received violent threats in recent months because of its work to resist the construction of the Agua Zarca hydroelectric dam, which was threatening the survival of the indigenous Lenca people.
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Earlier this year, 10 American rabbis demanded justice for the hundreds of thousands of Dominicans stripped of their citizenship status by the Dominican government mainly because of their Haitian ancestry.
And they were heard.
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“They restored my dignity”: AJWS grantee is helping Ebola survivors readjust to community life in Liberia Liberia was declared Ebola-free for the third time on January 14th—a feat achieved through the tireless work of health workers and community organizations determined to stop the virus for good. AJWS grantees are among these local heroes, and their work …
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Something that has always amazed me about the members of our grantee organizations is their resilience and positive outlook despite unbelievable hardships—situations that people in places like the United States could only dream about. The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is a case in point. The devastating disease put survivors through the wringer—physically and mentally. …
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This spring, when the earthquake stopped shaking Kathmandu long enough for Gopal Kumar Nakarmi to detach himself from his wife and daughter and check on their home, he immediately thought of the villagers in remote Nepal districts where he does community development work. It took three days to get word about their survival. The news …
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AJWS grantee THRP helps survivors handle the psychological aftermath of the epidemic.
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