Momentum on Legal Justice
In 1981, during the Guatemalan armed conflict, 21-year-old political activist Emma Molina Theissen was arrested, brutally raped and tortured for nine days by the military.
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Watch our videos to learn how AJWS is supporting people around the world who are fighting to improve the lives of millions.
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Sexual Health and Rights
We support women, girls and LGBTQI+ people, as they organize to end discrimination, stop violence and live with dignity, safety and health.
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Ruth Messinger
A tribute to a truly extraordinary leader, AJWS’s former President and its first Global Ambassador.
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Robert Bank
Get to know Robert Bank! Robert joined AJWS in 2009 as our Executive Vice President. As of July 1, 2016, Robert became the President and CEO of AJWS.
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A look at the work we do to end poverty and promote human rights in the developing world.
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Land Water and Climate Justice
We aid communities and movements organizing to protect the land, water and natural resources that people depend on for their survival.
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Ending Child Marriage
Each year, 15 million girls worldwide are married before the age of 18—sometimes against their will. AJWS supports efforts to end child marriage by bringing girls and young women together to define their own futures.
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Civil and Political Rights
We aid communities and movements that speak out against injustice, hold governments accountable to respect the rights of all people, and work to recover from civil wars and other conflicts.
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30 at 30
In celebration of AJWS’s 30th anniversary, we profiled 30 global leaders who have partnered with AJWS to build a better world.
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Momentum on LGBTI Rights
In 2010, as rumors of a same-sex wedding swirled in the conservative coastal city of Mombasa, Kenya, angry Muslim and Christian religious leaders mobilized locals to “flush out the gays.”
Momentum on Capitol Hill
The past two years have brought a litany of assaults on global human rights—many from within our own government. Among the most egregious: The Trump administration tried to slash funding for international aid and has cut off all funding to international organizations that support reproductive choice. To mitigate the administration’s threats, AJWS has participated in …
Momentum on Gender Equality
One afternoon when Sonali Khatun was only 14, she returned home from school in her small village of Sahanagar, India, to find rows of chairs set up in her family’s mud house.
Momentum on Democracy
A powerful movement is sweeping Nicaragua. Hundreds of thousands of people have flooded the streets in recent months to resist the authoritarian rule of president Daniel Ortega. Over the last 11 years, Ortega’s brutal regime has censored the press, done away with term limits for elected officials and repressed opposition parties. In April, when he reformed social security to increase the cost to workers while reducing payouts, the nation decided it had had enough.
Marching to protect women’s lives in Nicaragua
We believe that everyone has the right to live free from violence and constant threat. Yet around the world, an estimated 1 in 3 women will experience assault, rape or other abuse in her lifetime. Nicaragua is no exception, where each year dozens of women are murdered while their attackers roam free. AJWS grantees in …
Meant for Something More
Sonali’s parents forced her to marry at age 14, and her husband turned out to be abusive. Sonali found the strength to start her life over with the help of MBBCDS, an Indian organization in West Bengal funded by AJWS. She is now pursuing her goals, continuing her studies and working to prevent child marriage …
Saving El Salvador’s Mangroves
In El Salvador, local rural communities depend on the mangroves and the creatures that thrive in them for food and their livelihood. Mangroves also act as buffers against the threats posed by climate change by bolstering shorelines from rising seawaters and trapping carbon emissions.[1] La Unidad Ecológica Salvadoreña (UNES)—an organization supported by AJWS—is protecting endangered …
As activists speak out, UDEFEGUA helps them stay safe
This award-winning NGO helps activists stay safe, so they can keep speaking out against injustice. In recent years, activists who defend human rights in Guatemala have faced a rising wave of targeted violence that aims to crush their growing movements for social change. From 2008 to 2011, there were 1,286 reports of attacks against human …
Meet Zeenat
Zeenat is 17 years old and has already been married and divorced three times. All of these marriages took place against her will, and all three husbands abused her. Unfortunately, Zeenat’s experience is common in her impoverished community in Hyderabad, India. As is the case for many families living in poverty, Zeenat’s parents viewed marriage …