The AJWS community has a lot to say about what's happening in the world. Read our insights about the struggle for justice and human rights around the globe — and meet the activists on the frontlines of the fight to build a better world.
Good intentions strike again. Today’s New York Times op-ed page features a tragic account of how the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform act of 2010—no doubt conceived with good intentions by American politicians—is devastating mining towns in eastern Congo. In an effort to increase transparency in sourcing, the act “requires public companies to indicate what measures …
“We know the price of an air-conditioned hotel and a plane. [Short-term overseas volunteer trips to the developing world are] an act of affluent tourism masquerading as community service.” -Senior executive, the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. Like this wary university administrator, I have harbored suspicions toward service-learning programs to the Global …
There is no denying the severity of the crisis in East Africa right now. We’ve read the headlines and seen horrifying photos of starving children. The situation is getting worse every day. Two days ago, the United Nations declared a famine in three more areas of Somalia. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) …
We’re thrilled that President Obama announced today that his administration is taking new steps to prevent genocide by imposing serious consequences for human rights violators. The measures—which include the establishment of a standing interagency Atrocities Prevention Board and a proclamation prohibiting perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity and serious violations of human rights from …
