International Justice Mission ...

• was established in 1994 when a group of Christian public justice professionals, lawyers and public officials launched an extensive study of the injustices witnessed by overseas Christian missionaries and relief workers.
• takes human rights case referrals from overseas missionaries and conducts professional, confidential investigations to document the abuses and coordinate intervention on behalf of the victims.
• has focused its operations on cases of child slavery, forced prostitution, religious persecution, illegal detention, police abuse and other human rights violations in South Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and India.
• seeks "to provide a Christian ministry that advances the scriptural mandate to help people suffering injustices and oppression who cannot rely on local authorities for relief," according to its mission statement.
• receives financial support from a growing donor base that includes foundations, major donors, churches and individual contributions.
• is led by Gary Haugen, IJM founder and president, who previously served as a senior trial attorney with the Police Misconduct Task Force of the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. Haugen also served as officer in charge of the United Nations' genocide investigation in Rwanda in 1994. Prior to joining the Justice Department, he worked for the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, where he investigated abuses committed by the police and military in the Philippines.
• Shannon Sedgwick, a 2000 alumna of Baylor Law School, is IJM director of public affairs. She travels the country recruiting legal volunteers. On April 8, she spoke about the human rights organization at Baylor's Chapel program.