Every day people are winning campaigns on Change.org that address issues big and small. We’ll take a look at these victories and how the world changed in the last week.

“No American should be afraid to practice their faith in our country,” said Inderjit Singh Mukker from a hospital, still in a severe amount of pain from the attack he had sustained earlier in the day.

On Tuesday, September 8, Mukker, a Sikh, was on his way to the grocery store. According to Mukker’s children, a man pulled up next to his car yelling racial slurs such as, “Terrorist, go back to your country, Bin Laden!” Then he allegedly assaulted Mukker, punching him through his car window while hurling more racial slurs.

Despite the series of events, the assailant was not charged with a hate crime. DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office called it a case of road rage.

Mukker’s children quickly started a petition, asking the U.S. Department of Justice to bring federal hate crime charges against their father’s assailant.

Backed by the Sikh Coalition and the support of more than 12,300 signers, the petition achieved victory in just one week.

“We are thankful that Robert Berlin and the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office have filed a hate crime charge in this case,” said The Sikh Coalition’s Legal Director, Harsimran Kaur. “For the Sikh American community, a formal hate crime charge was never about a harsher penalty, but instead prosecuting the crime for what it was. We can’t combat the problem of hatred against minority communities in America unless our elected officials and government agencies acknowledge that the problem exists.”

Mukker’s victory was one of 113 victories around the world in the last week, slightly more than average. One country that had a particularly exciting week was Colombia, which had a record 14 victories.

Victory for Criminal Justice | Victory for Animals | Biggest Victory | Small Victory

The most popular victory in Colombia is leading the city of Cartagena’s Department of Traffic and Transportation to phase out animal-drawn vehicles in favor of motorized vehicles.

Nadia Menco started a petition asking the mayor to put an end to animal-drawn vehicles more than two years ago. Not only did she note the importance of ending the practice for the animals, but also she noted that an end to these animal-drawn vehicles would clean up the city’s streets and cut down on child labor, since waste collection is often a job done by children.

Menco’s petition achieved victory last week after generating nearly 17,000 signatures.

Here are some other petitions that might interest you:

• Tell Congress To Reform Our Criminal Justice System
• Pass the Justice Safety Valve Act
• Demand justice for the 49,000 men who were wrongfully criminalised for being gay