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March 24, 2016 by Angela Cave

AJWS Staff Joins Rally Demanding Justice for Murdered Honduran Activist

On March 3rd, unknown assailants murdered Berta Cáceres, a Honduran human rights defender and environmental activist who dedicated her life to protecting the land and human rights of indigenous people. Berta and the organization she founded and directed, AJWS grantee Consejo Cívico de Organizaciones Populares e Indigenas de Honduras (COPINH), had received violent threats in recent months because of its work to resist the construction of the Agua Zarca hydroelectric dam, which was threatening the survival of the indigenous Lenca people.

March 4, 2016 by AJWS Staff

Mourning the Death of Berta Cáceres, a Human Rights Hero

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.

February 26, 2016 by AJWS Staff

The Time is Now: Reflections from the Global Justice Fellowship trip to the Dominican Republic

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.

January 7, 2016 by Nikhil Aziz

“Our vision is for a more just and equitable society”: Reflections from Guatemala

Nikhil Aziz, Director of Natural Resource Rights at AJWS, visited AJWS’s grantee organizations in Guatemala and has been sharing stories from his travels. Lesbia Morales is in her early 30s. She was the first woman president of AJWS grantee Comité Campesino del Altiplano (CCDA), a grassroots organization of small-scale farmers supported by AJWS. The group works in 11 …Read More

December 11, 2015 by Nikhil Aziz

Women Lead the Struggle for Land: Reflections from Guatemala

Maria Magdalena Xalcut is in her 60s, but she has more energy than most women half her age. She is a member of Comité Campesino del Altiplano – Committee of Peasants of the Highlands (CCDA), a grassroots organization of small-scale farmers supported by AJWS. The group works in 11 regions throughout Guatemala to confront land rights challenges and meet the needs of rural, predominantly Mayan communities.

A sexual slavery survivor stands during a break in the Sepur Zarco trial in Guatemala.

May 6, 2016 by Carolyn Ziv

Survivors of Sexual Slavery Obtain Justice in Guatemala, One AJWS Grantee Helps Keep Them Safe

“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.