GJC In The News
Women's Groups Want Junta Arraigned Before ICC
English Deyea News, June 27th 2008
Encouraged by the UN Security Council resolution condemning sexual violence against women, international women's associations, including Burmese groups, have urged the world body to arraign Burma's junta before the International Criminal Court (ICC). The appeal came from the Women's League of Burma, the Burma Lawyers' Council and the New York-based Global Justice Center, which works closely with international women's organizations...more.
The Junta's Criminal Constitution
Far Eastern Economic Review, May 5th 2008
Burma's military dictators now say Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, under house arrest or in prison for 12 of the past 18 years, can cast her vote in the May 10 constitutional referendum-a bitter irony if ever there was one. Ms. Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy are calling on voters to reject the military-backed constitution, calling it "undemocratic." Meanwhile, the U.N. Security Council perpetuates the charade that the referendum is legitimate by asking the ruling junta to respect "fundamental political freedoms" at the polls...more.
New constitution gives impunity to military
BurmaNet, April 2008
Burma's military regime is coming under fire for the language in a new constitution to be approved at a national referendum on May 10. The full text of the charter was made public only a month ahead of the plebiscite...more
Saddam's Unrepentant Judge: An Iraq High Tribunal member talks about Saddam Hussein's trial and working for women's rights
Newsweek, 29th January 2008
Judge Mohammed Oreibi al-Khalifa is a member of the Iraq High Tribunal, which was created to prosecute crimes that occurred under the regime of Saddam Hussein. Khalifa presided over the conviction of Saddam Hussein and the so-called Anfal trial, which specifically dealt with the crimes committed against Iraqi Kurds. The Anfal decision, as it is known, named six of Saddam's highest officials as responsible for the genocidal campaign that left hundreds of Kurdish people dead. It also designated rape as a form of torture. In one case Khalifa remembers the story of a female prisoner whose baby died soon after she gave birth. The woman was not allowed to bury her child. Instead she was forced to watch dogs rip its tiny body apart and eat it. During a recent trip to Washington, D.C., Khalifa spoke with NEWSWEEK's Jessica Ramirez about the work of the Iraq High Tribunal...more
US and Kurdish Women's Rights NGOs Launch Gender Equality Legal Training
Kurdish Regional Government, 2 December 2007
Global Justice Center, a New York-based legal NGO, has launched a legal training course in Erbil in cooperation with Kurdish Women's Rights Watch. The course will inform participants how to enhance the rights of women through the alignment of local laws with international standards....more
The Security Council is Obligated under Resolution 1325 to Act Now to Stop the Wide-Spread Crimes of Sexual Violence against the Women of Burma
Women's E-News, September 2007
The current violence being employed against the people of Burma by the ruling military junta is not new. Violence has been used as a means to retain control over the people of Burma for decades and the rape and torture of ethnic women has been and still is a central component of this terror....more
Victims of Sexual Violence in Darfur Face Stigma, Unresponsive Justice System
PBS, June 2007
While the situation continues to deteriorate and has threatened to spread across borders, some promising advances are showing up in the international court. The International Criminal Court issued warrants in May for two men accused of war crimes, including rape. The recognition of rape as one of the crimes is significant, said Janet Benshoof, president of the Global Justice Center in New York...more
Iraqi Judges Trained on International Law and Crimes of Sexual Violence
National Lawyers Guild-NYC News, Winter 2007
From November 13-15, 2006, the Global Justice Center (GJC), a new INGO based in New York, provided the first training on international law and gender for women leaders from Iraq and judges of the Iraq High Tribunal (IHT). The training was requested by the IHT judges to provide them with information on international law regarding crimes of sexual violence...more
Feminist International Radio Endeavour Interview
Feminist International Radio Endeavour, October 2006
GJC President Janet Benshoof is being broadcasted by Feminist International Radio Endeavour (FIRE) in an interview on her work with UN Security Council Resolution 1325. FIRE is an internet radio station based in Ciudad Col?n, Costa Rica whose broadcasts are heard across the world through streaming audio...more
Iraqis Push to Prosecute Rape in War Crime Trials
Women's E-News, June 2006
A prominent women's group in Iraq, along with advocates of international law in the United States, are beginning to demand justice for thousands of Iraqi women who suffered under the regime of Saddam Hussein. They are working with and lobbying the Iraqi High Tribunal--the temporary court now trying the crimes of Hussein's Baathist regime--to prosecute and punish perpetrators of gender-based violence, including allegations of women being raped in prison and politically motivated public beheadings...more