What is IJM?

(As found in the IJM "Campus Chapter Tool Kit")

International Justice Mission (IJM) began operations in 1997 when a group of human rights professionals, lawyers and public officials launched an extensive study of the injustices witnessed by overseas missionaries and relief and development workers. The study surveyed 65 overseas ministries representing 40,000 overseas workers and found that almost 100 percent were aware of abuses of power by police and other authorities in the communities where they served. These overseas workers, however, did not have the resources or expertise to confront the abusive authorities and bring rescue to the victims. They required the assistance of trained public justice professionals to meet these needs. Accordingly, IJM was established to help the Christian community “seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan (and) plead for the widow” (Isaiah 1:17).

Based on case referrals from overseas workers, IJM mobilizes its human rights experts, attorneys and law enforcement professionals to conduct confidential investigations of the abuses. Then IJM mobilizes interventions that bring the perpetrators to justice, provides care for the victims and encourages structural changes to prevent these abuses from happening again. In addition, IJM partners with local ministries and churches to ensure effective and appropriate aftercare for the victims that will help them heal spiritually, emotionally, physically, mentally and economically.

In recent months, IJM has focused its operations on issues of child bonded slavery in South Asia, forced child prostitution in South Asia and Thailand, police abuses against street children in Bolivia, and illegal detention of men and women in Kenya. IJM has established eight operational field offices in South Asia (2), Kenya, Zambia, Uganda, Guatemala, Cambodia, the Philippines and Thailand. These offices manage the day-to-day docket of human rights cases in their area and train local justice professionals in the investigation, documentation and intervention practices and procedures of an effective justice agency.

IJM is determined to bring the church into a new awareness of the strong biblical mandate to seek justice, of the innumerable cases of manifest injustice that exist in the world, and of the amazing opportunities to correct these injustices by the diligent application of professional training and expertise. IJM is determined to respond to the call to justice by mounting successful interventions on behalf of victims of oppression and injustice worldwide. As a faith agency, IJM is determined to pursue this mission in humility and prayer, maintaining a vigorous and growing prayer ministry in support of its efforts.