2011

Violence has hit the residents of Ciudad Juárez hard. In the past year, the city has lost over 3000 to murder and violence, including many young people. One year after the brutal and shocking massacre of 18 youths–students, sons, daughters–at a party in the Villas de Salvarcar neighborhood in Ciudad Juárez, the city’s human rights organizations, students, faith groups and residents are joining together for a day of nonviolent action, including fasting and public reflection, to call for “Alto a la Guerra… No Más Sangre” (Stop the War… No More Bloodshed”). Juarenses will be joined in person and in spirit from those all over Mexico and around the world in this day of commemoration, fasting and reflection.

A December 2010 report by Human Rights Watch outlines the lack of accountability for human rights abuses committed during and following the June 2009 coup in Honduras. The report also documents 47 cases of threats or attacks, including 18 killings, against journalists, human rights defenders, and political activists since the inauguration of Honduran President Porfirio Lobo in January 2010.

One year ago, Haiti was ravaged by a devastating earthquake that killed more than 230,000 people and destroyed the homes and families of millions more. Since then, you and many others have stepped forward to give and advocate for relief funding, push for temporary protected status for Haitian immigrants in the U.S., and persuade the IMF to drop Haiti’s $268 million debt once and for all.  But while the support of the international community has saved many lives, a year later, conditions in Haiti are still perilous, with more than 3,400 people dead from a cholera outbreak, most of the rubble not cleared, and still close to a million people left without permanent housing.

Click here to ask our government to stand by the Haitian people as they rebuild their country and their lives.

"As Haitians prepare for the first anniversary of the earthquake, close to one million people are reportedly still displaced. Less than 5 percent of the rubble has been cleared, only 15 percent of the temporary housing that is needed has been built and relatively few permanent water and sanitation facilities have been constructed," concludes Oxfam in a hard-hitting report on the world’s response to the devastating earthquake in Haiti.