Justin Jacobs
Legal Aid, Spiritual Healing: Meet Guatemala’s Indigenous Law Firm
The Guatemala City office of AJWS grantee Bufete para Pueblas Indígenas (BPI), or the Indigenous Law Firm, may look like most law offices: stacks of client files, a large conference table, bustling energy and coffee and tea perpetually brewing. But at BPI, there is more than meets the eye. “At other law firms, you’re not …
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As a brutal civil war rages in Burma, the citizen’s movement for peace carries on
Burma’s humanitarian crisis has reached staggering levels of suffering — with millions of people fleeing their homes and resettling across the border in Bangladesh or in camps within the country, while a civil war between the Burmese military and resistance armed militant groups rages. But a movement of passionate activists continues to operate under the …
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In Thailand, Indigenous fishing communities prepare their return to sacred waters
For decades, Aon Changnam has dreamt of the open waters of his childhood. Aon was born into a community of Urak Laroi people, traditionally nomadic people that have populated Thai and Malaysian islands for countless generations. He grew up swimming and exploring, enjoying freshly seafood, and hiking through the dense forests of Koh Lanta, his …
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For Indigenous Guatemalans, Mother Earth is not just a concept
Isabel Chen Ical and her husband, Agustín Chocooj, live with their two children and members of their extended family on a lush, fertile plot of land in Cerro Alto village, in rural Guatemala. They are members of the Q’eqchi Indigenous community — one of Guatemala’s 24 distinct ethnic groups. There’s one family member she speaks …
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Advocating for human rights, while responding to natural disasters in Haiti
In Haiti, the struggles of the capital, Port-au-Prince, radiate outwards. Though the city is the epicenter of the country’s compounding problems — a collapsed government that has given way to the take-over of violent street gangs, following multiple natural disasters — the fallout stretches well into Haiti’s more remote regions, where people lack any form …
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Women to the front: Gender equality in the fight for Indigenous land in Guatemala
For nearly two decades, AJWS grantee the Association of Communities for the Development, Defense of Land and Natural Resources (ACODET), has successfully fought off government plans to build a hydroelectric dam in Ixcán, Guatemala, that would force 19,000 Indigenous villagers to lose their homes. ACODET is a grassroots coalition of 36 Indigenous farming villages that …
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“Love yourself as much as you can”: The journey of a Thai LGBTQI+ rights defender
Methawee Pannon (Sai) grew up in Khon Kaen, Thailand, understanding exactly what was expected of her. Outside of Thailand’s metropolitan, progressive capital of Bangkok, traditional, conservative gender values can be completely destabilizing for queer people, especially in rural regions like northeastern Isaan. “Women are meant to be the pride and joy of our parents and …
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