This week, our Girl Friday team had always intended to honor the sixth anniversary of the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, but we were even more compelled to talk about gun violence in the U.S. after the shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs' Super Bowl victory parade. We are enormously grateful to Rachel Feldman of GIFFORDS for talking to us about the impact of mass shootings on families and communities, as well as what personally drives her work to end gun violence. 

As we approach 2023, you might think about final end-of-year gifts to organizations that positively impact our global community. If you are still looking for an organization to support, check out (and share!) these five suggestions.

A new report released last week alleges several defense contractors in the Persian Gulf are trapping foreign workers into debt bondage and other corrupt employment practices on at least four U.S. military bases. The U.S. government has made its stance against forced labor, human trafficking, and unethical employment processes very clear, both at home and abroad. So, why is this happening? And, what can we do to help make certain that all workers on U.S. military bases are safe and treated with dignity and respect?

Last week in Iran, a young, twenty-two-year-old woman named Mahsa Amini died after being taken into custody for wearing attire that did not fit the repressive standards imposed by the morality police in Tehran. As protests flood the nation and Iranian women demand justice and equity, what can we do to support them? And, how can non-Muslim women be a better support system for Muslim women?

With Queen Elizabeth II's passing this week, media coverage has focused on her 70 years of loyal public service and her family's complicated legacy around the world. Royalists and anti-monarchists may disagree politically, but they might both acknowledge that Queen Elizabeth II's devotion to nearly 600 charities deserves recognition. One of her earliest patronages, The Royal College of Nursing, merits discussion this week as global nursing shortages are once again in the news. Typically, this is discussed as a labor problem in high-income countries, but according to global data, this impacts low-wealth countries even more. How did this happen, and what can we do to support the field of nursing?

In an unexpected move this week, the United Kingdom (UK) was granted permission by a High Court in London to send any asylum seekers to Rwanda. The UK government claims this new process will deter human traffickers and stop migrants from making dangerous treks to the UK. Some human rights groups believe the UK's new policy violates the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, which hinges on the principle of non-refoulement. What is non-refoulement, and how is the United Nations responding to the UK's decision?