Publications

North Dakota Century Code Chapter 12.1-36.1 (the “Health Care Ban” or “Ban”) categorically prohibits adolescents from receiving medically necessary treatment when their gender identity does not align with their sex assigned at birth, while permitting the same interventions for other minors and for other medical purposes. The Health Care Ban impermissibly intrudes on multiple rights protected by the North Dakota Constitution: its guarantees of individuals’ bodily autonomy and access to life‑preserving medical care; its protections for family integrity safeguarding parents’ right to make individualized medical decisions in their children’s best interests; and its equal‑protection provisions prohibiting laws that discriminate on the basis of sex or otherwise restrict important substantive rights for a subset of people without compelling reason. Each of these constitutional guarantees is supported by international and regional human rights law and by the laws and practices of many other nations. Together, these domestic, regional, and international authorities demonstrate that North Dakota’s ban is both unconstitutional and inconsistent with established human rights norms. This Court should therefore reverse the lower court’s decision.

Liberia’s support for key recommendations received during its fourth UPR cycle is a significant and welcome step toward at last delivering justice for serious international crimes during the country’s civil wars. These include recommendations aimed at the establishment and effective functioning of a war and economic crimes court and full implementation of the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s recommendations.

In March 2026, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (the Court) issued a landmark judgment in Ramos Durand et al. v. Peru, holding Peru responsible for the forced sterilization and death of Celia Edith Ramos Durand. The case was brought by the Center for Reproductive Rights, DEMUS–Study for the Defense of Women’s Rights, and the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL). Global Justice Center submitted an amicus curiae brief in the case, with Debevoise & Plimpton acting as pro bono counsel, articulating the importance of specifically recognizing reproductive violence.

The United States tracks adolescent sexual and reproductive health (SRH) indicators through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) via the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) and the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). Furthermore, the Office of Population Affairs, within the Department of Health and Human Services, maintains ongoing data reporting, collection, and monitoring of changes and trends relating to statistics on adolescent SRH. Large-scale health surveys, public health institutions, and academic research studies are utilized to gather data. Since 2009, teen birth rates in the United States have been declining and is 13.6 births per 1,000 females as of 2022. This rate remains higher than in other similar industrialized countries.

We are writing on behalf of the Global South Coalition for SRHR and Development Justice and a group of civil society organizations allied in support of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). As you know, SRHR has long been recognized by the UN and its member states as an essential prerequisite to achieving gender equality and development. As the UN80 reform process explores potential structural improvements—including a possible merger between UNFPA and UN Women—we are writing to urge you to safeguard the integrity of the UN’s SRHR mandate.

While U.S. constitutional law provides a clear basis to reject Tennessee’s attempt to silence individuals providing information about safe and lawful healthcare access, affirming the district court’s holding would also align with international human rights law. Several international treaties, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (“ICCPR”) and the International Convention on the Rights of the Child (“CRC”), support the position that the Recruitment Provision violates longstanding international legal principles protecting free speech.

The Global Justice Center and the Leitner Center welcome the opportunity to submit comments to the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar relating to the forthcoming conference room paper on pathways to accountability for grave human rights violations in Myanmar.

We, the undersigned organizations and individuals, welcome the official start of preparatory work for a Crimes Against Humanity Convention. This is a significant opportunity to ensure an inclusive instrument that addresses long-standing gaps in the protection against gender-based crimes, particularly for women and girls. We urge states to adopt a gender-competent and intersectional negotiation process and convention, which is shaped by victims’ multidimensional experiences. We call on all states to take comprehensive action, including: Recognize all gender-based harms that meet the crimes-against-humanity threshold, by codifying crimes such as: Forced Marriage: as compelling a person into a conjugal union through force, threat, coercion or inability to consent, consistent with established jurisprudence. Reproductive Violence: as intentional acts or omissions that violate a person’s reproductive autonomy. Gender Apartheid: as inhumane acts committed within and to maintain an institutionalized regime of systemic gender-based oppression and domination. Slave Trade: as acts involved in bringing a person into, and maintaining them in, a situation of slavery, and reflecting its peremptory status. Center victims and survivors in the convention: The convention should deliver justice that people can access and trust—not a system that looks strong on paper but leaves victims behind. Victims’ perspectives, including those from marginalized groups, should shape the treaty’s content, particularly with regard to prevention, accountability, and reparations. States should conduct safe consultations with victims on the text—including the definition of victim—and provide procedural accommodations to ensure their meaningful participation throughout the negotiations, implementation and monitoring. The text should define victims to include at least all persons who suffer harm from acts that constitute crimes against humanity in line with international standards and provide for prompt, full, and effective reparations. Embed gender-competence across the convention’s content and process to promote equality and prevent discrimination, such as by ensuring: Gender-inclusive language is used throughout the text of the convention. An approach that is grounded in intersectionality and gender inclusivity guides all sections of the convention, including provisions on definitions, procedure and enforcement. A strong non-discrimination and substantive equality clause and strong provisions for monitoring to promote implementation, progressive interpretation, and compliance are included. In the text, gender is understood in line with current international human rights and criminal law. The negotiations incorporate gender expertise and robust civil society participation, intersessional meetings on gender justice, and gender parity across delegations. See list of signatories

We, the undersigned organizations and individuals, represent civil society organizations, nongovernmental organizations, victim/survivor associations, and academic institutions from around the world. We have technical expertise on the prevention and punishment of crimes against humanity, including their adjudication before national and international courts and tribunals. Many of us have also directly experienced or witnessed the commission of crimes against humanity. We welcome the opening of the Preparatory Committee for the Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Humanity, a vital step towards closing a long-standing accountability gap in international law.