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GJC in the News

Women@Google: Janet Benshoof

Janet Benshoof, President of the Global Justice Center, was invited to give a talk at Women@Google Talks. During this presentation, she explained how the geopolitical favoritism afforded war criminal Than Schwe in Burma undermines the rule of law globally. Than Schwe, who controls Burma using the largest standing army in South East Asia, has routinely flouted all U.N. efforts, and, chooses to have tens of thousands of people die preventable deaths from the effects of Cyclone Nargis rather than open up access to the people of Burma.

Janet Benshoof put the recent forced "death by disease" in the context of clearly documented and ongoing grave crimes including the destruction of villages, torture, murder of monks, systematic gang rape of ethnic women, genocide of Karen and Shan peoples, forced labor, and recruitment of child soldiers. Professor Benshoof also pointed out how by declaring a victory on the May 10th referendum, Than Schwe is trying to transform his rule into a constitutional right by inserting criminal immunity for himself and his cohorts into the constitution. The constitution attempts to legitimize permanent military rule, give blanket amnesties for all military crimes, and simply put, it is possibly the worst constitution ever drafted with regard to women in modern history.

Watch here