JBI's Approach

JBI centers its activities on:

1. Clarifying basic human rights concepts, principles, and issues.
2. Building national and international procedures and institutions to assess compliance with international human rights standards.
3. Defending human rights defenders and advancing the techniques they bring to their work.
4. Networking, constituency building, and capacity development.
5. Advocacy and educational training.
6. Participating in the work of international human rights bodies.

JBI’s Work

Since its origin, JBI has conducted and supported original research and policy analyses of central issues in the field of international human rights. This work is primarily directed at improving the protection of international human rights through the mechanisms and bodies of the United Nations and other international organizations, though the policies of individual governments also are a focus of JBI activities.

The primary subjects of JBI’s programming include:

• Human Rights Mechanisms and Institutions
• Religious Intolerance, including Antisemitic acts and other human rights abuses
• Genocide Prevention
• Prohibition against Torture
• Human Rights Defenders
• Human Rights of Women

The Jacob Blaustein Institute is named in memory of Jacob Blaustein, a past president of the American Jewish Committee, who was a consultant to the US Delegation to the 1945 founding conference of the United Nations in San Francisco, where he helped ensure that human rights protection was included in the purposes and activities of the United Nations.

Founded in 1971 under the aegis of the American Jewish Committee, the Jacob Blaustein Institute continues in that capacity to work to strengthen human rights through the United Nations and other intergovernmental bodies.