Join us Nov 9, 2025, to mark 45 years since the martyrdom of four U.S. churchwomen in El Salvador and honor today’s fallen human rights defenders. Featuring Sebastián Torogóz, on tour with his book and music celebrating resistance, memory, and solidarity.
to register click here
We hope that IRTF friends will support OCSILiO, one of the few nonprofits representing migrants in their immigration court judicial proceedings at low or no cost. For several years IRTF has been collaborating with OCSILiO lead attorney Brian Hoffman, former staff of Catholic Charities Migration and Refugee Services.
Litigating for Liberation with OCSILiO
“....rooted in the belief that no one should be imprisoned for seeking safety”
Learn more about OCSILiO’s mission in action in defending detained Ohio immigrants in their high-stake deportation proceedings. Hear from OCSILiO executive director, college interns, migrants defended by OCSILiO. Free-will offerings for OCSILiO will be accepted (with gifts of time and talent also appreciated).
RSVP online encouraged at wpcwoo.org/litigating or office@wpcwooster.org
Learn more about OCSILiO and donate online www.ocsilio.org
OCSILiO: The Ohio Center for Strategic Immigration Litigation & Outreach
Please join Cleveland Jobs with Justice for our 28th Annual Celebration. Banned Book Bingo in partnership with Red Wine and Blue on Thursday, light food and beverages will be provided.
Banned Book Bingo features books by Women Authors, Authors of Color, LGBTQ+ Authors, books about racism, sexuality, gender, and history. Walk away with the knowledge of how you can push back against book banners by standing up and supporting freedom, democracy, equality, and inclusion!
Please consider sponsoring our event by donating an ad in our Program Book, which will be published on our website, shared across social media, and distributed electronically to all attendees of our event and to anyone who requests a copy. Get your tickets or more information about how to sponsor our event here!
location: UAW 1250 Hall, 17250 Hummel Rd, Brook Park, Ohio
In response to an alert from the Inter-Church Justice and Peace Commission, we wrote to officials in Colombia with deep concern for the safety of residents in Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca Department. Over the past month the intensification of armed conflicts has resulted in selective assassinations, forced disappearances, internal displacements and social control that imposes fear, extortion and invisible barriers. Young people are limited in their mobility to go to school because the city is fragmented by invisible barriers that prevent free movement. Illegal armed groups are occupying people’s homes and pressuring teenagers to carry weapons, carry out surveillance activities, and participate in illegal economies. Girls are being seduced and deceived for sexual exploitation. At least ten neighborhoods have recorded killings of their residents during September.
The Bari Indigenous people live in the Perijá mountains near the Catatumbo-Bari National Natural Park in Norte de Santander Department in northeast Colombia. The binational people live on both sides of the Colombia-Venezuela border. Stretching between the Eastern Andes and Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela, the Catatumbo region is rich in natural resources, particularly oil, but marked by extreme poverty, high militarization, armed violence, and the lack of access to health, food, education, water, and housing. These conditions have created a hostile environment for social leadership and human rights defense. The region also lacks infrastructure and connectivity with the rest of Colombia.
Since late August, dozens of people have been suffering from fever, pain, and hemorrhages; on August 26, a child died after presenting these symptoms. Residing far from municipal urban centers where health facilities exist, the Bari people are forced to travel long distances to seek medical attention. Without the resources for transport and lodging, these journeys further endanger their health. We are urging that authorities in Colombia consult with Bari settlements to establish adequately equipped medical facilities, so they do not have to risk their lives traveling for hours to access healthcare.
For nearly two decades, Maya Q’eqchi’ communities have fought a groundbreaking legal battle in Canada against Hudbay Minerals for violence, land evictions, and killings linked to Guatemala’s Fenix nickel mine. From the 2007 mass rape of 11 women to the murder of community leader Adolfo Ich, the struggle set a historic precedent for corporate accountability abroad. Now, with the lawsuits finally settled, a new report reveals the full story—exposing decades of Canadian mining interests, corruption, and repression in Guatemala, and connecting past injustices to ongoing stru
For nearly two decades, Maya Q’eqchi’ communities have fought a groundbreaking legal battle in Canada against Hudbay Minerals for violence, land evictions, and killings linked to Guatemala’s Fenix nickel mine. From the 2007 mass rape of 11 women to the murder of community leader Adolfo Ich, the struggle set a historic precedent for corporate accountability abroad. Now, with the lawsuits finally settled, a new report reveals the full story—exposing decades of Canadian mining interests, corruption, and repression in Guatemala, and connecting past injustices to ongoing struggles today.
to read the full report click here
Family separations are back — and happening in the shadows.
The Trump administration is once again tearing children from their parents, not just at the border but across the U.S. Leaked records, firsthand accounts, and legal filings reveal a chilling strategy: coerce deportation by threatening — or carrying out — family separation.
The 2016 Peace Accords were historic. Thousands of armed combatants with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) were demobilized and enrolled in reincorporation centers (Territorial Training and Reincorporation Spaces) across the country.
But the violence by illegal armed organizations against the ex-combatants has been astronomical. As of late September, at least 480 ex-combatant signatories of the peace agreement have been killed, as verified by the United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia. This deadly violence threatens the reintegration process for all former combatants.
In recent months, six Peace Accords signatories have been murdered in Antioquia Department alone. John Fader Santiago Galvis, 32 years-old, was an ex-combatant who had been carrying out his reincorporation process in Cocorná, Antioquia, since 2024. On September 2, he was found dead by local residents on the banks of the Cocorná River near San Antonio. On his body were multiple bullet wounds and serious burns on his skin, suggesting an attempt at cremation.
We urge that authorities in Colombia promptly enact strict governmental measures to remove armed groups from innocent and vulnerable communities in Antioquia and provide adequate protection to social leaders who are under threat, in strict accordance with their wishes.
Since 2022, El Salvador’s state of exception has led to mass detentions and severe overcrowding in prisons. In this context, corruption has become systemic: families of detainees are forced to provide “donations” — including money, medicine, food, and supplies — in exchange for visits or information about their loved ones. Cases documented by Cristosal reveal that these practices are widespread, coercive, and institutionalized, turning basic human rights into commodities. The hidden business of the prison system exploits the desperation of families, perpetuates abuse, and erodes the rule of law.
Cristosal full length report: here
Brazil’s digital payment system PIX has sparked a new flashpoint with the Trump administration, which accuses it of undercutting U.S. tech giants. Brazil calls the investigation a threat to its sovereignty and a broader attempt to weaken its independence, as PIX becomes a global model for reducing reliance on the U.S. financial system.
