With white “Christian” nationalists and other forces of hate attacking the rights and the very existence of marginalized people here in the United States, focusing all our energy defending human rights at home is tempting. But Unitarian Universalists have always recognized the interdependence of people across political boundaries, engaging in both political and humanitarian work to advance our shared values globally.

Now, two of the UU organizations recognizing the global nature of our struggle for human dignity call us to meet the rising threats beyond U.S. borders.

The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) just launched Together, We Rise, a rapid-response network created to inform UUs about the most critical threats to civil liberties, democracy, and human rights, and to provide us action ideas with which we can defend vulnerable people and uphold UU values.

Salote Soqo, Director of Advocacy on Global Displacement at UUSC, says the network was conceived prior to the 2024 federal election to anticipate policies of any new administration and “mobilize our passionate UUs around the country” to support human rights. The network’s launch was rendered especially timely when, days prior to the public launch, Elon Musk bragged of working in secret to destroy the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), a federal agency providing life-saving food, vaccinations, and other aid to alleviate suffering worldwide. After news of Musk’s vandalism broke, UUSC issued a statement noting, “From refugee support at the Thai-Burma border to life-saving food assistance in Sudan, this unlawful aid freeze threatens not only lives but also essential human rights work.”

On February 7, a lawsuit to stop USAID’s closure won a restraining order from a federal judge, but staff remained locked out as of this writing. Massive cuts to U.S. foreign aid (already less than one percent of federal spending) sought by the Trump Administration will spark increased need for organizations working to uphold human dignity and prevent suffering. It also is leading to massive waste of perishable food (PDF 6 pages) in storage or in transit from USAID.

To learn more about the five issue priorities of UUSC’s new “Rapid Response Task Force” and engage, see Together, We Rise.

Meanwhile, Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East (UUJME) is focusing largely on the crisis in Gaza where Israeli military attacks have driven millions of Palestinians from their homes and mass death from starvation, dehydration, and disease is ongoing.

President Trump continues providing Israel’s military with weapons enabling Israel’s devastation of Gaza and extended President Biden’s ban on U.S. funding of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the primary organization providing humanitarian assistance to Palestinian refugees. This funding cutoff would undercut the agency at the moment of greatest need and increase preventable suffering and deaths.

Trump also signed an Executive Order withdrawing the U.S. from the United Nations Human Rights Council, a key vehicle for encouraging nations to abide by minimal measures of human dignity like the Universal Declaration for Human Rights, which UUJME cites as a primary source of inspiration.

On Friday, UUJME issued a statement rejecting Trump’s plan to weaken UNRWA. Their call to action is rooted in strong UU support for solidarity with Palestinians, as exemplified by the Action of Immediate Witness passed at the 2024 Unitarian Universalist Association General Assembly and many prior statements.

UUJME offers a wide range of tools to help fight the cutoff of funding to UNRWA and encourages direct contributions. See their statement linked above to learn more.

Related Resource from Side With Love

• Why We Cannot Turn Away: Resources for UUs Engaging Palestine & Israel