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.
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.
Yesterday, we received the tragic news that Berta Cáceres, a champion of human and environmental rights in Honduras and longtime AJWS grantee, was murdered in her home. We are devastated by her loss. Berta was a hero to so many of us at AJWS. She was a globally-recognized human rights leader who gave a voice to the indigenous people of Honduras, as she bravely fought for their land and water rights.
Last month, 10 rabbis from across the U.S. spent a week in the Dominican Republic as part of a Global Justice Fellowship trip with AJWS. Focusing heavily on the Dominican government’s policies related to the citizenship status of Dominicans of Haitian descent, the delegation met with grantees working to address some of the most pressing human rights issues in the region. Rabbi Elyse Winick, the Jewish chaplain at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, wrote this reflection at the end of the trip.
Rainbow Community Kampuchea (RoCK) brings LGBT people from throughout Cambodia together to reflect on their experiences of discrimination and ignorance. By creating a strong LGBT community, RoCK hopes to advocate for change—in LGBT lives and in society at large.
In a rare and welcome display of bipartisan support, the United States Congress just passed the Electrify Africa Act, ensuring the continuation of the Obama administration’s Power Africa initiative to expand access to electricity in Africa. Now that this legislation will become the law of the land, we urge the U.S. government to succeed by asking and answering the key questions we offer below.
