International Justice Mission

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. [ [http://www.rts.edu/quarterly/winter99/qa.html How You Can Rescue the Oppressed] , Reformed Theological Seminary Quarterly, Winter 1999]

Haugen and the work of IJM have been featured on “Dateline NBC,” [ [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/Default.aspx?id=4038249&p1=0 "Children For Sale,"] An episode of "Dateline NBC", January 9, 2005] “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” [http://www.oprah.com/tows/slide/200511/20051102/slide_20051102_284_210.jhtml] [ [http://www.oprah.com/tows/pastshows/200511/tows_past_20051102_b.jhtml "Child Sex Trafficking, The Facts," An episode of "The Oprah Winfrey Show"] ] FOX News, MSNBC, CNN, NPR, [ [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10283512 Cambodian Cop Targets Sex Tourists", An episode of "Weekend Edition Sunday," by Michael Sullivan, May 20, 2007] ] Forbes Magazine, [ [http://www.forbes.com/global/2004/0112/055_print.html Hitting Slavery Where It Hurts] , in Forbes Magazine, January 12, 2004] Need Magazine, [ [http://www.needmagazine.com/features.html# "Kids: Child Sex Trafficking," An article in Need Magazine, Winter, 2006] ] Christianity Today, [ [http://www.christianvisionproject.com/2007/02/on_a_justice_mission.html "On A Justice Mission: The Christian Vision Project," An article in Christianity Today by Gary Haugen] ] and in the New York Times Magazine. [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/25/magazine/25SEXTRAFFIC.html?ei=5007&en=43dbe6ef76e45af8&ex=1390366800 The Girls Next Door] by Peter Landesman, "New York Times Magazine", January 24, 2004] . Haguen was also featured in Harvard Magazine [ [http://www.harvardmagazine.com/on-line/030508.html "A Calling For Justice," An article in Harvard Magazine by David McKay Wilson, March/April 2005] ] and in the University of Chicago School of Law's magazine, "From The Record" [ [http://www.law.uchicago.edu/alumni/record/spring2005/global-human-rights.html "Global Human Rights, One Case At A Time," an article in From The Record, by David McKay Wilson, Spring 2005] ]

IJMs 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. [ [http://www.motherjones.com/news/outfront/2003/11/ma_570_01.html Thailand's Brothel Busters] , "Mother Jones", November 2003.]

References

External links

* [http://www.ijm.org IJM Website]