Our hearts are with the people of Ukraine as they continue to endure unspeakable suffering from Russia’s ruthless invasion. As the conflict persists, deadly ripple effects are becoming evident far beyond Ukraine’s borders. Exports of grain, fertilizer and fuel from the region have ground to a halt, accelerating a rising global hunger and economic emergency. …Read More
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A few weeks ago, I woke up to news that filled me with hope. After nearly four decades, justice prevailed for 36 Indigenous Achi women who were raped and tortured by paramilitaries during Guatemala’s civil war. After enduring years of taunts, threats and outright denials, vindication came on January 25 when a tribunal sentenced their …Read More
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In early November 2020, Hurricane Eta tore through Guatemala’s Caribbean coast and on to the north-central region of Ixcán, leaving many communities that AJWS supports in tatters. Just two weeks later — communities still reeling from the carnage of Hurricane Eta — disaster struck again when Hurricane Iota slammed into the same areas, leading to even more catastrophic damage. Now, a year after this series of destructive natural …Read More
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Statement by AJWS Senior Director of Civil and Political Rights and Advocacy, Tracey Gurd, on the attempts to dismantle an independent judicial system in Guatemala As U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris plans her visit to Guatemala in June, we encourage her to focus on the attacks on the country’s democracy, especially those aimed at Guatemala’s …Read More
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Hurricane Iota hurtles towards the same coastlines just battered by Tropical Storm Eta, as Central America braces for more catastrophic damage.
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“We are telling the truth. We want to be heard, and we want justice,” said a petite, elderly woman to a room full of journalists and human rights activists in Guatemala City on February 13, 2016. A survivor of sexual slavery during Guatemala’s decades-long civil war, the woman’s face was obscured by a Mayan scarf to protect her identity.
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Seeking justice for bloodshed in the name of development
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Hundreds of Maya Achi people were murdered to make way for a dam in Guatemala. Decades later, their families finally find justice. Back in 1982, Carlos Chen Osorio was a young man with a family: his wife, Paulina, and their toddler children, Enriqueta and Antonio. Paulina carried their third child inside her, and expected to …Read More
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Indigenous communities work together to defend their land and way of life. In Guatemala, indigenous people whose families have lived and farmed in one place for generations are now facing rapid encroachment on their land and way of life. Many Mayan communities lack official land titles, despite obvious historic and cultural ties to their land. …Read More
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In Guatemala, AJWS focuses on ending violence and discrimination against women, youth and Indigenous people, and protecting the land and natural resources that farmers need to survive. AJWS grantees also protect human rights defenders seen as threats by the country’s deeply corrupt government.
Read MoreThis week, we are pleased to welcome guest writer Rabbi Brent Chaim Spodek. Everybody wants something. There are very few of us who have reached the level of equanimity that we are happy with what we have; the rest of us want things that are still out of our reach. For oppressed peoples, the most …Read More
Read MoreThis week, we are pleased to welcome guest writer, Dvar Tzedek alumnus Guy Austrian. Rock by rock, stone by stone, each one passed hand to hand along a human chain of young Jews and indigenous Guatemalans: our energy was high on this beautiful day during our AJWS delegation to rural Guatemala. We cleared a riverbed …Read More
Read MoreHundreds of young Mayan students gathered with their teachers and a small group of New York Jews, standing in a wide circle as we observed an astonishing spectacle. Rivulets of bubbling candle wax streamed onto the ground. Flowers withered and crumpled in smoke and flames. A priest of the Maya Achi tradition presided over the …Read More
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