Janet Benshoof (May 10, 1947 – December 18, 2017) was an American

human rights lawyer International human rights law (IHRL) is the body of international law designed to promote human rights on social, regional, and domestic levels. As a form of international law, international human rights law are primarily made up of treaties, ag ...

and President and Founder of the

Global Justice Center The Global Justice Center (GJC) is an International human rights law, international human rights and International humanitarian law, humanitarian law organization aiming to advance gender equality by helping to implement and enforce human rights l ...

. She founded the

Center for Reproductive Rights The Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) is a global legal advocacy organization that seeks to advance reproductive rights, such as abortion. The organization's stated mission is to "use the law to advance reproductive freedom as a fundamental huma ...

, the world's first international human rights organization focused on reproductive choice and equality.- About - Our Team
Global Justice Center; retrieved December 16, 2017.

Education and academia

Benshoof received her B.A. in political science, summa cum laude, from the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

in 1969, and her '' Juris Doctor'' from Harvard Law School in 1972, paying her tuition using money from a summer job at an A&W Root Beer stand. She taught human rights law at

Bard College Bard College is a private liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains, and is within the Hudson River Historic District—a National Historic Landmark. Founded in 1860, ...

and Harvard Law School and was a visiting lecturer at

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

, Columbia,

Rutgers Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and w ...

Case Western Reserve Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio. Case Western Reserve was established in 1967, when Western Reserve University, founded in 1826 and named for its location in the Connecticut Western Reser ...

, and Harvard Universities.

Legal work

Benshoof established landmark legal precedents in the U.S. Supreme Court and international forums. Her successful legal efforts range from the approval of

emergency contraception Emergency contraception (EC) is a birth control measure, used after sexual intercourse to prevent pregnancy. There are different forms of EC. Emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs), sometimes simply referred to as emergency contraceptives (ECs), o ...

for women by the United States

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respon ...

(FDA), to the application of international

rape law Rape is a type of sexual assault initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, under threat or manipulation, by impersonation, or with a person who is incapa ...

to ensure the

rights of women Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

in the

Iraqi High Tribunal The Iraqi High Tribunal (IHT), formerly the Iraqi Special Tribunal and sometimes referred to as the Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal, is a body established under Iraqi national law to try Iraqi nationals or residents accused of genocide, crimes aga ...

's prosecutions of Saddam-era war crimes. Her training on gender rights and international law at the

resulted in the first legal decision in the Middle East to confer women rights under international law. She also lectured and trained women leaders, judges, parliamentarians, and various UN bodies on implementing international human rights laws (such as CEDAW) and

international humanitarian law International humanitarian law (IHL), also referred to as the laws of armed conflict, is the law that regulates the conduct of war ('' jus in bello''). It is a branch of international law that seeks to limit the effects of armed conflict by pro ...

, including women's rights to criminal accountability under Security Council Resolutions and by the

International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC or ICCt) is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals f ...

. She served for 15 years as director of the

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...

's Reproductive Freedom Project, which litigated cases dealing with gender equality, free speech, and reproductive choice. She was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and its Burma Task Force and advised women from

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

Kurdistan Kurdistan ( ku, کوردستان ,Kurdistan ; lit. "land of the Kurds") or Greater Kurdistan is a roughly defined geo-cultural territory in Western Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture, languages ...

, and

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

on constitutional drafting.

Center for Reproductive Rights

In 1992, Benshoof left the ACLU to found the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy (now the

), the first international human rights organization focused on women's rights to equality; she served as its first president. Under her leadership, the Center obtained consultative status to the United Nations, developed legal projects in more than 40 countries, and won major cases in the

US Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point of ...

Global Justice Center

Benshoof was President of the

(GJC), a

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

based international human rights law organization she founded in 2005. The GJC works to help implement and enforce human rights laws that advance

gender equality Gender equality, also known as sexual equality or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making; and the state of valuing d ...

. In 2011, whilst President of the GJC, she suggested that Myanmar's military government should be referred to the

for violations of international law.

Publications

Benshoof published numerous articles in the ''Harvard Law Review'', ''The Journal of the American Medical Association'', ''The New York University Journal of International Law and Policy'', ''Issues in Science and Technology'', ''Women's Health Issues'', and ''Law Ka Pala'', a Journal of The Burma Lawyers' Council. Her publications include "Global Justice for the Twenty-First Century: International Legal Issues" for the ''Encyclopedia of Global Studies'', "US Ratification of CEDAW: An Opportunity to Revisit and Reframe the Right to Equality Accorded Women under the US Constitution" for the ''NYU Review of Law and Social Change'', and "The Upcoming Elections in Burma: Increasing Risks to Global Security by Constitutionalizing a Military Monopoly on Nuclear Development" with the Burma Lawyers' Council.

Media

Benshoof appeared on the ''

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

Education and academia

Legal work

Center for Reproductive Rights

Global Justice Center

Publications

Media

Death

Awards

References