Thank you for marching with the Global Justice Center in honor of our fearless founder, Janet Benshoof. Janet fought her entire life to advance women's equality and we are grateful to you for honoring her with us and for carrying on her powerful legacy.
Thank you again. It was wonderful to march alongside you and we hope to see you again soon!
Join GJC this weekend as we celebrate the incredible life of our founder, Janet Benshoof.
Join GJC in marching in honor of our fearless leader, Janet Benshoof, in the Women's March on New York City - Saturday, January 20th.
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It is with deep sadness that the Global Justice Center announces the passing of its founder and fearless leader, Janet Benshoof. A generational force and tireless advocate for the rule of law and women’s equality, Ms. Benshoof’s family announced her passing on December 18th. She was 70 years old.
“Janet dedicated her life to fighting for justice and equality,” said her family. “It gives us great comfort to know that her fighting spirit will be carried on by the Global Justice Center and all those whose lives she touched.”
That’s Illegal! is the Global Justice Center's new podcast about the importance of international law, why we have it and why we should implement it. Each episode, GJC's legal experts and special guests discuss current events, break down the legality of what's happening and explore possible avenues for positive change.
In our latest episode we are joined by Sareta Ashraph, an international law barrister with expertise in humanitarian law and criminal law, to discuss the genocide ISIS is committing against the Yazidi.
In May, the Trump administration announced an updated policy greatly expanding the Global Gag Rule. This will have a drastic effect on $8.8 billion in US health care aid. As a result, millions of women and girls around the world will lose access to contraception and maternal health care. Hundreds of clinics serving in-need populations around the world will be forced to close. Women will die.
For more, please read my recent Op-Ed piece published in Ms. Magazine, on how to fight this odious policy.
We saw this coming. In January when Trump first took office as an anti-choice president, he immediately re-instated the Global Gag Rule. We knew there was more to it and yesterday with his newest policy, “Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance,” Trump confirmed that he has expanded these anti-abortion restrictions to impact $8.8 billion in global health assistance. This expansion is unprecedented.
We are ready. We are fighting back.
We are not in the same place we were when the Gag Rule was instated by Reagan or Bush. We will not let Trump take us backward. We can and do demand radical change against policies that are deadly to women and do no respect the lives of women.
In April, the United Nations contacted the Trump administration and warned them that repealing the Affordable care Act and leaving millions without health coverage would violate the US’s legal obligations under international human rights treaties.
Yesterday, the Trump administration and the US Congress ignored these warnings.
When governments fail to stand up for human rights it is up to the people and civil society to stand strong and speak up.
In 1945, on the ninth day of testimony at the Nuremberg Trials, the prosecutors introduced a damning piece of evidence - a film that showed the gas chambers at Dachau. Nineteen Nazi war criminals were convicted, and the Nuremberg Trials helped establish an international system of criminal law that included the adoption of the Genocide Convention.
The Genocide Convention has some of the strongest protections under the law for victims, but its effectiveness rests on states fulfilling their obligations to prevent, suppress and punish genocide.
I’m back very recently from meetings in Brussels and London and we are not alone! The growing resistance to Trump’s actions to undermine women, including by censoring abortion-related speech globally, is real and growing.
I am convinced that the Trump debacle has opened up unforeseen opportunities to make radical advances to improve the rule of law, including women’s rights.
I was invited to meet with the EU officials to discuss ways the EU could fight the US abortion restrictions. I presented at a parliamentary briefing and we equipped European policy makers with charts and memos on the likely impact of the restrictions on EU humanitarian aid.
Over one month ago Donald Trump reinstated and expanded the Global Gag Rule. As organizations around the world wait for official guidelines on what the expansion means, GJC and other women's rights groups are already working hard to combat these deadly restrictions on women's healthcare.
Today, GJC participated in the She Decides Conference in Brussels. The conference brought together representatives from governments, civil society and women on the ground with the aim of joining forces to mitigate the impact of the decrease in US funding from Trump's Global Gag Rule.
Women have been the leaders of successful resistance movements around the world. From the women of Liberia's mass action for peace, to mothers in Argentina and women's groups in Burma, women's rights activists are often the first to speak out against the rise of extremism.
After the women's march on January 21st, which was the largest peaceful day of protest in US history, GJC and other women's rights groups are keeping the momentum going.
Join GJC in DC on March 8th, the day of the nationwide Women's Strike, as we protest against Trump's reinstatement and expansion of the Global Gag Rule.
The Trump administration is feeling the pressure. All around the country people have been coming together and standing up to his dangerous policies, saying, “We won’t go back.”
Both at home and abroad, GJC knows that fighting back works.
We invite you to join us this week as we stand together with the legal community in New York City to protest an agenda that violates human rights.
This week the courts are standing up to Trump, proving once again that the law can stop tyranny in its tracks.
GJC knows what resistance looks like.
Last week we saw pictures of men signing executive orders that negatively impacted the lives of women, minorities and vulnerable populations in the United States and around the world.
This week we saw pictures of women judges, protesters, senators, congresspeople, and lawyers leading the fight against these dangerous policies.
GJC's motto has always been, "when women have a say in governing, the world becomes a better place." Today, we are seeing how true that is. GJC is fighting harder than ever. Stand with us.
After World War II, there was a human rights revolution that resulted in strong treaties and human rights laws. These laws are underscored by the recognition that there are rights so fundamental that they transcend borders and individual policies.
GJC was founded to move these laws from paper to practice.
Donald Trump's presidency will test this foundation of human rights law like never before. Our legal experts have spent years studying, researching and fighting for the enforcement of international law to build a global system of justice founded on gender equality. We are ready to fight back against whatever action Trump takes that threatens this rule of law.
Courage is contagious. Stand with us.
Photo: Gage Skidmore / CC BY-SA 2.0
August 12th was the anniversary of the Geneva Conventions. Because of Florence Nightingale we have laws guaranteeing all war victims equal rights to medical care.
A new report, “They Came to Destroy” : ISIS Crimes Against the Yazidis, confirms that ISIS is committing genocide against the Yazidi including through gendered non-killing crimes such as rape and sexual violence against enslaved Yazidi women and girls.
This month, GJC participated in the UN's first World Humanitarian Summit held in Istanbul, Turkey from 23-24th, 2016. With our presence there, we took leadership in promoting the rights of women and girls under international humanitarian law.
GJC’s side-event, “Making IHL Work for Women and Girls,” was the only event at the summit on IHL and gender, and focused on advancing the rights of women and girls in conflict.
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