New York, NY, May 24, 2013 In April, Ruth Messinger, President of American Jewish World Service, and Rabbi Steve Gutow, President of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, sent a letter to President Obama calling on the US government to renew our commitment to Sudan. As the follow-up letter (viewable online here) indicates, 492 Rabbis …
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On Friday, May 10th, Guatemalans breathed a sigh of relief. Judge Yasmin Barrios read the verdict against Efraín Ríos Montt for the whole world to witness, and in solidarity, defenders of human rights from every corner of the globe sighed right along with them. In a landmark case, Ríos Montt was sentenced to 80 years …
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Washington, DC, May 16, 2013 This statement is delivered on behalf of the following endorsing organizations: American Jewish World Service, Bread for the World, CARE, Church World Service, the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network, Oxfam America and Partners in Health. The endorsing organizations listed above applaud bi-partisan legislation introduced yesterday by House Foreign Affairs Chairman Ed …
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The news from Guatemala on Friday evening, May 10 stunned the world—a Guatemalan court sentenced former general José Efraín Ríos Montt to 80 years in prison for genocide. While we are deeply gratified by this historic verdict, we know that much work remains to be done to ensure justice in Guatemala. Supporters of human rights …
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Statement by Ruth Messinger, President of American Jewish World Service on the Conviction of former General José Efraín Ríos Montt New York, NY; May 13, 2013— “We are deeply gratified that former Guatemalan dictator, General José Efraín Ríos Montt, was found guilty of genocide in the very country in which he committed his crimes and …
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Statement from International Aid Groups on Draft House and Senate Farm Bills May 10, 2013 (Washington, DC)—American Jewish World Service, Bread for the World, CARE, The Modernizing Assistance Network, Oxfam America and Save the Children released the following statement today in advance of the Senate and House committee mark-ups of the 2013 Farm Bill: “With …
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Ever since it was given over three thousand years ago on Shavuot, the Torah has offered Jews a vision of how the world should work. I was thinking about this vision this past December when I was asked to represent HIAS (the 120-year-old Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) at a United Nations conference in Geneva dealing …
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New York, NY; May 1, 2013—We are not surprised to see lobbyists for Big Ag come out with guns blazing against President Obama’s forward-looking proposal to reform U.S. food aid to poor countries. The proposal would feed at least 4 million more people without costing taxpayers an extra dime. The special interests that oppose the …
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Originally posted on the blog of the Brooklyn Food Coalition. This looks good. As part of the 2014 Budget Request released last week, President Obama included a proposal that would overhaul America’s international food aid system. It’s not a perfect proposal and it still needs to be approved by Congress, but it’s a huge leap …
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Is Shell Oil too big to punish? That’s the question that our friends at EarthRights International (ERI) asked during their recent campaign in which they called upon the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold human rights for people who have been exploited by big businesses. In October of 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments for Kiobel v. Royal …
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