For many in our community, the Dominican Republic (DR) is a magical Caribbean nation we contemplate visiting in the winter for beach time, gambling and relaxation. For those of us who spent 10 days there in June, the picture is starkly different: the DR is a place of poverty, discrimination, violence, potential deportation and increasing …
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Back in New York City in the 1980s, AIDS, death and discrimination defined my life as a young gay lawyer whose partner was dying of AIDS. Same-sex couples were denied an entire slew of basic rights such as the right to hospital visitation, medical decision-making, adoption, and immigration, to name just a few. During that …
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Washington, D.C. – American Jewish World Service (AJWS), the leading Jewish international development and human rights organization, applauds U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and the State Department on the release of the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2014. This report helps guide U.S. government and foreign policy assistance and also underscores threats …
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New York, NY – American Jewish World Service (AJWS), the leading Jewish international development and human rights organization, applauds the U.S. Supreme Court for delivering this historic victory for marriage equality. “This is a magnificent achievement for our country,” said Robert Bank, executive vice president of AJWS. “Although it may be tempting to view this …
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Ruth Messinger will receive InterAction’s2015 Julia Taft Award for her tireless leadership as an activist and social change visionary at InterAction’s Forum 2015. As president of American Jewish World Service she helps mobilize faith-based communities throughout the U.S. to speak on behalf of oppressed and marginalized people around the globe. You can learn more about …
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Leading Jewish international human rights organization calls on Dominican government to restore citizenship to more than 200,000 being denied their nationality New York, NY—Ruth Messinger, president of American Jewish World Service (AJWS), the leading Jewish international development and human rights organization, issued the following statement in advance of the impending deportation of Dominican-born individuals and …
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I lived in a tent in Nepal as a refugee from Bhutan in the 1990s. And so it broke my heart this month, when I traveled to Nepal in the wake of the recent earthquake and witnessed Nepalese families living in a sea of plastic tents, much like the ones my family and I lived …
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For those who dedicate their lives to pursuing justice, every moment is urgent. As the great Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel famously taught, there is simply “no time for neutrality.” Every act is needed. Every gift, every word, every choice has the potential to save a life.
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Last spring, I traveled to Washington, D.C. for my first experience as a citizen-activist, lobbying in Congress for the rights and well-being of women and LGBT individuals in the developing world. I recently returned there to see some of the impact of that work – crucial new appointees, new legislators in support of key issues …
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Last Saturday, I watched with the rest of the world as images emerged in the wake of Nepal’s violent earthquake: the dusty faces of survivors, bloodied bodies, the ruined historic buildings. It reminded me of the devastation I witnessed after the earthquake in my homeland, Haiti, five years ago — and it made me worry …
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