Press and Publications

We stand with Afro-Colombian human rights defenders and peace advocates under threat. 

Afro-Colombian human rights defenders Sara Quiñonez and Tulia Maris Valencia, activists with our local partner organization Proceso de Comunidades Negras (PCN), have been unjustly detained. Their imprisonment is in retaliation for their community organizing to demand peace and justice. Here is a summary update and action recently shared by PCN.

I've just returned from a fact-finding trip to Arizona, where we visited gender violence survivors at the Eloy detention center. They have come from countries across the region to seek asylum here in the US. But instead of sanctuary, many of them are trapped in long-term detention in a system stacked against them. Trump's latest executive order, announced while I was in Arizona, makes it even worse, upending asylum law to reject even more people seeking safety. 

The Brisas del Cauca community in Colombia is demanding the right to be resettled and rehoused with dignity. By taking local action and bringing applying our international advocacy strategy to the cause, MADRE is helping to seek justice for this community.

It has been one year since Hurricane Maria hit. Puerto Rico is still very much feeling the impacts of the disaster and now has an official death toll near 3,000 people. In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, MADRE members stepped up and helped MADRE contributed to the Maria Fund in Puerto Rico. 

Two of our partners need your voice now. Mother and daughter Tulia Maris Valencia and Sara Quiñonez are two Afro-Colombian women human rights defenders who have been unjustly imprisoned in a maximum security prison, on baseless charges.

People in Iraq are struggling to build back their communities, after ISIS occupation and through ongoing violence. Many are asking themselves, what will healing look like? How will we find justice?

More than 50 people were killed today in Gaza protesting against the Israeli blockade that has sealed them in for years, depriving them of basic needs like water and access to medical care. This is the latest in weeks of violent retaliation by the Israeli military against demonstrators in Gaza, adding to the growing number of killed and injured. MADRE is mobilizing to provide immediate care, like emergency medical kits for on-the-ground first responders. Through our local partners, we’re helping to make sure that wounded people receive aid, like treatment for tear-gas inhalation, on-the-spot care for injuries, and stabilization so that they can be transported to a clinic. And we’re providing for ongoing support, like antibiotics to avert infection.

Right now, our partners in Syria are huddled in bomb shelters, trying to survive as airstrikes explode around them. And we’re acting urgently to save lives.

Our longtime partner in Nicaragua and a dear friend, Rose Cunningham, has been inaugurated as the first Indigenous woman mayor of Waspam, Nicaragua, her hometown. It’s from there that she’s dedicated her life to protecting and advancing the rights of women and girls – both in that community and around the world.

Charo's statement highlighted the essential role of Afro-descendant and Indigenous women in the Colombian peace implementation process.