Dear Friend,

The Global Justice Center’s Board of Directors is thrilled to announce that Akila Radhakrishnan has been named the President of the Global Justice Center (GJC). Ms. Radhakrishnan has worked at the Global Justice Center since 2010, most recently serving as the organization’s Vice-President and Legal Director.

“We are delighted that Ms. Radhakrishnan has accepted this position,” says Tracy Higgins, Chair of GJC’s Board of Directors. “Ms. Radhakrishnan served as acting President during a difficult time of grieving and transition for the organization over the past six months. Her leadership during that time, together with her legal expertise and commitment to the organization made it abundantly clear that she is the best person to lead GJC into the future.”

Ms. Radhakrishnan, a legal and policy expert in the field of human rights and international law, is an established thought leader and scholar who has taught courses and lectured at Stanford University, the Leitner Center for International Law and Justice at Fordham University Law School, and New York University School of Law. She has been published widely in popular media including in the New York Times, Time, The Atlantic, Women Under Siege, Rewire and Ms. Magazine, as well as in academic and peer-reviewed journals, including Reproductive Health Matters and the Denver Journal of International Law and Policy.

Ms. Radhakrishnan has been instrumental in advancing GJC’s programmatic and strategic goals over the past eight years. She spearheaded GJC’s efforts to: ensure justice for sexual violence in conflict in countries including Burma, Iraq and Nigeria; train and support grassroots actors in international human rights law; and challenge US abortion restrictions on foreign assistance, including the Helms Amendment and the Global Gag Rule. She has authored numerous shadow reports, legal briefs and advocacy documents and provided legal expertise to domestic and international stakeholders and policymakers, including the International Criminal Court, the United Nations, the European Union and state governments.

In 2010, Ms. Radhakrishnan helped to conceptualize GJC’s campaign to ensure access to abortion services for girls and women raped in war and has since led the project’s legal and advocacy efforts. Since its launch, the campaign has had tremendous successes including the recognition that abortion is protected medical care under international humanitarian law by the governments of the UK, the Netherlands and France, the European Union Commission and Parliament, the UN Security Council, and the UN Secretary-General.

Ms. Radhakrishnan worked closely with GJC’s founder Janet Benshoof to develop GJC’s innovative legal arguments and advocate for the implementation of progressive policies that advance gender equality in both the law and in practice. “We are confident not only in Akila’s ability to ensure the sustainability and viability of GJC for years to come, but also in her ability to meaningfully advance Janet’s relentless and uncompromising quest for equality and justice,” says Higgins.

Prior to joining GJC in 2010, Ms. Radhakrishnan worked at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, DPK Consulting and Drinker, Biddle & Reath, LLP. She received her J.D. with a concentration in international law from the University of California, Hastings and holds a B.A. in Political Science and Art History from the University of California, Davis.