I’m writing from 7,640 feet above sea level in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. Yes, you read correctly. Here’s my hotel. I’m here participating in the American Jewish World Service Global Justice Fellowship. I’m one of 13 rabbis in Guatemala to meet with and support advocates fighting for legal protections for human rights activists at risk of violence; …
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Emma Molina Theissen and her family are finally getting justice for the crimes committed against them by the Guatemalan military, 37 years later.
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On Friday, May 10th, Guatemalans breathed a sigh of relief. Judge Yasmin Barrios read the verdict against Efraín Ríos Montt for the whole world to witness, and in solidarity, defenders of human rights from every corner of the globe sighed right along with them. In a landmark case, Ríos Montt was sentenced to 80 years …
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Desmond Tutu once said, “I have no idea what childbirth is like but I am told it is a painful yet rewarding experience.” For me, as a person who grew up in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, this quote is perfect to describe the situation in South Sudan. In many African …
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President Obama declared this past week, “Justice has been done.” I work for an organization that throws around the word “justice” every day, and also none too lightly. The juxtaposition left me uneasy. At AJWS, we speak about justice in many different contexts. Sometimes the context is our work, for example, on “food justice,” described …
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