FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – October 17, 2096

[NEW YORK, NY] – Janet Benshoof, Director and Founder of New York-based NGO Global Justice Center, presented the keynote address at the Women’s Bar Association (WBA) Gala on October 17, 2006.  Approximately 1000 members of the legal community attended the event held at the Westin Copley Place Hotel in Boston.

Benshoof graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Minnesota and received her Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School. She was the Director of the American Civil Liberties Reproductive Freedom Project from 1977-1992 spearheading all the national legal efforts to advance constitutional protections for gender equality and reproductive choice. She is the founder and past President of the first international human rights organization specializing in legal reform of reproductive/privacy laws, now the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR).  In 2005, Benshoof founded the Global Justice Center to advocate for the political rights of women.

The Global Justice Center aims to equip leaders in developing democracies with the legal tools to enforce women’s rights to equality in political representation.  Utilizing the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Optional Protocol, and UN Resolution 1325, the Global Justice Center is assisting women leaders in transitional countries to advocate for inclusion in democracy-building initiatives.  Currently, the Global Justice Center is working in Iraq training tribunal judges in gender and international law and in Burma assisting women leaders in the Constitution drafting process. 

To arrange a meeting with Janet Benshoof please contact Abby Goldberg at (212) 725-6530 or agoldberg@globaljusticecenter.net.  For more information about Ms. Benshoof and the Global Justice Center, please visit http://www.globaljusticecenter.net.