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AJWS Blog

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.

April 7, 2016 by Carolyn Ziv

Honoring Liberia’s Ebola Fighters: How a Group of Imams Helped Save Their Community

The recent reports of three new Ebola cases in Liberia—including a woman who died on March 31—remind us of the difficulty of fully eradicating the virus from West Africa. They also remind us of the human impact of Ebola, which has killed over 11,000 people in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone since December 2013. This photo essay offers a look at how the National Imam Council of Liberia (NICOL) mobilized imams around the country to educate Liberians about Ebola and how to protect themselves from it.

March 30, 2016 by Carolyn Ziv

Honoring Liberia’s Ebola Fighters: A look back at the role of AJWS grantees in curbing a historic outbreak

In June 2014, a well-known doctor in Banjor, a community near the Liberian capital of Monrovia, died suddenly of a mysterious illness. A devout Muslim, the doctor was buried in the traditional way: imams washed and blessed his body then carried it to a site near the local mosque for burial. Within days, all five of the imams who bathed the doctor’s body were dead. One by one, those who came into contact with them also fell ill—and one by one, they died. In a country where malaria, typhoid and a slew of other sicknesses kill thousands of people each year, it was difficult to determine what was happening. But one thing was abundantly clear: something was killing people in Banjor at an alarming rate, and Muslims were getting hit the hardest.

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 23, 2016 by Nikhil Aziz

Women Lead for a Lasting Peace: Reflections from Burma

They are all young women in their 20s and 30s. All of them are Kachin and passionate about their common cause: the human rights of Kachin women, and of Kachins generally. And they are all members of AJWS grantee the Kachin Women’s Association of Thailand (KWAT).

March 21, 2016 by Jacqueline Hart

Fear of female sexuality: addressing an unspoken driver of early and child marriage

We all know that adolescence is, by definition, a time when children begin to mature into adults: physically, mentally and emotionally. In many communities, it’s also a time fraught with anxiety about the emerging sexuality of adolescent girls—a time when, driven by fear, some families exert tight control over where girls can go, who they can talk to, and how they dress. Because the roles of women and girls remain restricted in patriarchal societies across the world, families often marry off daughters at this age, believing their honor hinges on keeping girls virgins until marriage. In addition, families often pay lower dowries if they marry their daughters at younger ages.