Press and Publications

Charo Mina Rojas, member of Proceso de Comunidades Negras (PCN), a MADRE partner organization in Colombia, addressed the UN in Geneva on the topic of racial justice. 

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?

We, the undersigned nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are writing to express our grave concern about the manner in which the Government of Iraq is carrying out prosecutions of ISIS fighters. 

MADRE condemns the killing of Razan al-Najjar, a 21-year-old Palestinian volunteer medic, who was shot by Israeli snipers as she attempted to provide medical care to an injured protester in Gaza. Razan was a volunteer with the Palestinian Medical Relief Society, a MADRE partner a humanitarian aid organization.

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.

Trump has announced that the US is leaving the Iran nuclear deal and reinstating sanctions, scuttling a diplomatic solution that has helped improve stability in the region and prevent war. We’re on a path to further confrontation with Iran, a prospect that could trigger massive destruction and endanger countless lives across the region.

MADRE has worked in Nicaragua for 35 years, standing in solidarity with women and families demanding rights and justice. The eyes of the world have been on Nicaragua in recent days, as demonstrations against proposed changes to the social security system have been met with violence. MADRE condemns the use of violence and asserts that the rights to assembly and democratic expression must be respected.

The world today saw a historic milestone: a landmark meeting between the leaders of North and South Korea. This comes 65 years after a ceasefire that ended the direct hostilities of the Korean War but left the peninsula divided. After more than six decades of families separated and of the threat of renewed violence, the two leaders have pledged to work towards a peace agreement and nuclear disarmament.

Please sign on your organization to a letter calling on Colombia’s Attorney General to free detained Afro-Colombian women human rights defenders, Sara Quiñonez and her mother Tulia Valencia, both members of Black Communities Process (PCN), and expressing concern about politically motivated arrests of human rights defenders. Both Ms. Quiñonez and Ms. Valencia have risked their lives defending Afro-Colombians’ collective and territorial rights and were recently forcibly displaced as a result of death threats targeting them for their advocacy. The two face trumped-up accusations of guerrilla involvement, simply for being prominent human rights defenders.

Breaking News Update: Trump has launched an illegal attack on Syria.

This report, published in advance of the UN Human Rights Council’s review of Colombia’s human rights record in May 2018, documents human rights violations against Afro-Colombian Peoples and communities, including threats to and violations of their gender-based human rights.