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.

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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

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August 12^th was the anniversary of the Geneva Conventions. Because of Florence Nightingale we have laws guaranteeing all war victims equal rights to medical care.

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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.  

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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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This Mother’s Day it is important to remember that when women have a say in governance, the world becomes a better place. This is why GJC works to empower women and ensure their equal rights around the world.

A recent example of this is our work on gender and genocide. I just wrote a blog post on how crimes against women are often overlooked and go unpunished. GJC is demanding accountability and action in face of these crimes.

Thank you,

Akila Radhakrishnan

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It has been two years since Boko Haram abducted nearly 300 Chibok Christian schoolgirls. The global rallying cry to “Bring Back Our Girls” has not stopped Boko Haram from targeting women and girls with heinous crimes including kidnappings, rapes, forced pregnancies, forced conversion, and murder by forced suicide.

While the Chibok girls remain in captivity, Boko Haram continues to act with total impunity abducting an estimates 2,000 more women and girls.

The fundamental ideologies of groups like Boko Haram and ISIS rely on women being chattels, inferior, and disposable. The global call to “Bring Back Our Girls” must go beyond rescue and include a demand for global justice for all women and girls suffering under extremists.

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Today, on International Women’s day, it is important to not forget the thousands of women and girls still being held captive by ISIS. The subjugation of women and girls and the horrific violence inflicted on them are strategies of terror and genocide used by ISIS to achieve their aims.

It is time to start treating ISIS’s genocide as genocide.  

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In a historic and strongly worded resolution, the European Parliament declared the atrocities ISIS continues to commit against religious minorities constitute genocide. This is the first time the European Parliament has acknowledged ongoing atrocities as genocide.

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We are so honored to strive for justice and equality with friends and partners like you. Best wishes to you and your loved ones for a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2016!

With Gratitude, 

Janet, Phyu Phyu, Akila, Stephanie O, Stephanie J, Michelle, Grant, Zoe, Kay, Anji, Pinky & Magda

Nadia Murad Basee Taha, who was held captive by ISIS and managed to escape, bravely told her story to the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday.

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The Burmese (Myanmar) election is front page news across the globe, and the results are demonstrating many victories for Burma’s National League for Democracy (NLD). This election shows how urgently the people of Burma want change. However, the bleak stuctural barriers to democracy, especially the Constitution that guarantees 25% of the parliamentary seats and blanket immunity to the military are even more apparent.

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How have the lives of women and girls surviving conflict situations improved in the last 15 years? As Women’s Rights Leader Julienne Lusenge of the DRC reflected on the international community’s response, “almost  nothing has changed.”

Last week, we also released our comprehensive report, produced in collaboration with the Leitner Center for International Law and Justice. The report documents gross inaction to fulfill Burma’s international obligations to ensure gender equality. Women will never enjoy equal rights in Burma without dismantling structural barriers to gender equality. Read “Promises Not Progress: Burma’s National Plan for Women Falls Short of Gender Equality and CEDAW”

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When will the US uphold the principles of the Geneva Conventions for women raped in war?

Today marks the 66^th anniversary of the United States signing the Geneva Conventions. Yet, due to US policy, women and girls raped in war are still denied their right under international law to all necessary medical care, including access to safe abortions. This includes the women and girls brutally raped and forcibly impregnated by Boko Haram in Nigeria.

This summer, lawyers from the Global Justice Center traveled to Nigeria in support of our new Gender, Genocide and the Responsibility to Rescue project. We learned that many are concerned about the immediate needs of victims of violence—food,  shelter, and medical care—this includes access to abortion services.

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Today, the Global Justice Center and over 55 human rights, medical, and legal organizations throughout the world, including in conflict countries, sent a letter to President Obama urging him to lift the abortion restrictions on US foreign aid. The abortion ban for women and girls raped in armed conflict violates their rights as guaranteed by the Geneva Conventions and has dangerous, even fatal, consequences.

The clock is ticking. President Obama has less than two months left to respond to the UPR recommendations. The Global Justice Center urges the President to overturn the ban so that U.S. aid will serve its purpose, lives will be saved, and suffering will be alleviated.

Read the joint letter to President Obama here.  

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Janet in New York Times: Why is Obama Administration Denying Abortions to Impregnated Boko Haram Victims? In case you missed it, please see my letter to the editor which was published in Friday’s New York Times.

My letter to the editor challenged the Obama administration continued violation of the Geneva Conventions by denying abortions to impregnated war rape victims.  

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Last week, United Nations news outlet PassBlue published the Global Justice Center’s editorial on the one year anniversary of the kidnapping of 276 Nigerian schoolgirls by Boko Haram. Our editorial identified the crimes committed by Boko Haram as an act of genocide, called “the forcible transfer of children,” as defined by the Genocide Convention.

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As the world remembered the abduction of the 276 Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram—219 who remain missing—on the one year anniversary of their abduction, the Global Justice Center is asking why the perpetrators of this heinous crime have not been brought to justice.  

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Today is International Women’s Day, and around the world thousands of women and girls are being used as a weapon of war in places like Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Syria and Iraq.

GJC is committed to holding groups and states that use rape as a weapon of war accountable. We advocate at the United Nations and governmental levels to ensure the international community fulfills its obligation to find war criminals and bring them to justice. Watch my keynote address at New York University School of Law’s Third Annual Law Women Summit this last month to learn more.

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