International Justice Mission

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

International Justice Mission is a U.S.-based Christian non-profit human rights organization that operates in countries all over the world to rescue victims of individual human rights abuse, working to combat human trafficking, forced labor slavery, illegal detention, unprosecuted rape, police brutality and illegal land seizure. Based on referrals of abuse received from relief and development organizations, IJM conducts professional investigations of the abuses and mobilizes intervention on behalf of the victims. The four-fold purpose of IJM is victim relief, perpetrator accountability, structural prevention and victim aftercare.

The organization's headquarters are in Washington, D.C. and it has affiliate officies in Canada and in the United Kingdom. As of 2007, IJM has field offices in Guatemala, Bolivia, Thailand, Cambodia, the Philippines, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, Rwanda and casework alliances in Honduras and Peru.

IJM was founded in 1997 by Gary Haugen, who currently serves as the President and CEO of the organization. Previously, he worked in the civil rights division of the U.S. Department of Justice, was director of the United Nations genocide investigation in Rwanda in 1994, and served on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Evangelicals.

The organization grew out of a group of Christian lawyers and was described by Haugen in a 1999 interview as existing within the Christian community and attempting to rekindle the social engagement of evangelical Christians.[1]

Haugen and the work of IJM have been featured on “Dateline NBC,”[2] “The Oprah Winfrey Show,”[1] [3] FOX News, MSNBC, CNN, NPR,[4] Forbes Magazine,[5] Need Magazine,[6]Christianity Today,[7] and in the New York Times Magazine.[8]. Haguen was also featured in Harvard Magazine[9] and in the University of Chicago School of Law's magazine, "From The Record"[10]

IJM's work of rescuing brothel prostitutes has encountered criticism, as some of these workers view prostitution as the only means of supporting their families, due to lack of other opportunities, and flee back to the brothels. [11]

[edit] References

  1. ^ How You Can Rescue the Oppressed, Reformed Theological Seminary Quarterly, Winter 1999
  2. ^ "Children For Sale," An episode of "Dateline NBC", January 9, 2005
  3. ^ "Child Sex Trafficking, The Facts," An episode of "The Oprah Winfrey Show"
  4. ^ Cambodian Cop Targets Sex Tourists", An episode of "Weekend Edition Sunday," by Michael Sullivan, May 20, 2007
  5. ^ Hitting Slavery Where It Hurts, in Forbes Magazine, January 12, 2004
  6. ^ "Kids: Child Sex Trafficking," An article in Need Magazine, Winter, 2006
  7. ^ "On A Justice Mission: The Christian Vision Project," An article in Christianity Today by Gary Haugen
  8. ^ The Girls Next Door by Peter Landesman, New York Times Magazine, January 24, 2004
  9. ^ "A Calling For Justice," An article in Harvard Magazine by David McKay Wilson, March/April 2005
  10. ^ "Global Human Rights, One Case At A Time," an article in From The Record, by David McKay Wilson, Spring 2005
  11. ^ Thailand's Brothel Busters, Mother Jones, November 2003.

[edit] External links