"I have been involved in Global Justice since its founding months in 2001 serving both as its Chair and Honorary Chair of the Board. During this time I have watched the organization grow into the largest student network focused around the dual crises of HIV/AIDS and child health...Global Justice has quickly earned the respect of many through its policy victories and progress in building a student movement." -Jeffrey Sachs Director, Earth Institute at Columbia University Special Advisor to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan |
History
Global Justice became officially incorporated as a 501 (c)(3) organization, with the Student Global AIDS Campaign (SGAC) as its first campaign. In less than three years Global Justice (GJ) has developed an extensive college student constituency engaging over 100 campuses. Through student-driven, grassroots campaigns, GJ is committed to building a deep, life-term commitment among college and high school students around promoting global human rights, social justice and democracy. The Student Global AIDS Campaign (SGAC) was founded in 2001 with the goal of mobilizing a much more effective and coordinated global response to the crisis of HIV/AIDS. In just three years the SGAC has established campus chapters on over 60 campuses across the country, and contacts at hundreds more, making it the largest grassroots student constituency working to end the global HIV/AIDS crisis. The second campaign of Global Justice, the Student Campaign for Child Survival (SCCS), was founded in 2002 to focus international attention on the over 10 million children under five who die annually from preventable infectious diseases. Like the SGAC, the SCCS has experienced very rapid and successful growth, having now reached 30 campuses nationally. In addition to supporting and launching student-driven campaigns, Global Justice also serves as a clearinghouse for student activism, fostering increased collaboration across student networks and organizations campaigning on environmental, labor, globalization, human rights, peace and security issues. Through the convening of a Student Summit on cooperative global engagement in the fall of 2004, Global Justice facilitated the creation of the FAIR Network, a network consisting of fifteen organizations active in student campaigning around global issues. Global Justice uses a campaign model that links education, advocacy, and grassroots organizing. In advocating for more just and responsible US policies, students in the Global Justice network have enjoyed tremendous success, gaining advanced advocacy skills and a deeper understanding of the political process. More lastingly, Global Justice has been able to educate students about global issues in a way that not only stresses individual challenges, but also provides a more integrated view of global problems, and the US role in meeting them. Finally, leadership development has remained at the forefront of Global Justice’s mission, which has allowed the entire program staff of the organization to be filled by immediate college graduates. Global Justice now plans to apply this highly effective organizing model to a third national campaign, the Student Trade Justice Campaign in order to engage students in issues around the global economy and economic justice, and to involve them in pushing for policies that work for the poorest and most marginalized members of our world. 
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