What is JBI?
The Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights (JBI) seeks to narrow the gap between the promise of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and all other international human rights agreements and the realization of those rights in practice. JBI works to advance human rights worldwide.
JBI's Approach
JBI centers its activities on:
- Clarifying basic human rights concepts, principles, and issues.
- Building national and international procedures and institutions to assess compliance with international human rights standards.
- Defending human rights defenders and advancing the techniques they bring to their work.
- Networking, constituency building, and capacity development.
- Advocacy and educational training.
- 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.
JBI Administrative Council
E. Robert Goodkind is Chair of the Administrative Council of the Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights. He is a partner in the New York law firm of Pryor Cashman LLP and was president of the American Jewish Committee from 2004-2007. Previously, Mr. Goodkind was chairman of the Jewish Museum, the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous, and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts.
Mimi Alperin
René-Pierre
Azria
Marion Bergman
Jerry H. Biederman
Susan Morton Blaustein
Thomas Buergenthal
Roberta Cohen
Irwin Cotler
Lori F. Damrosch
Edith
B. Everett
Lois Frank
E. Robert Goodkind
David
A. Harris
Barbara Blaustein Hirschhorn
Michael
Hirschhorn
Charlotte G. Holstein
Suzanne Denbo Jaffe
Harris L. Kempner Jr.
Edward Luck
Jesse Margolin
Joel Mogy
Carol Nelkin
Louis
Perlmutter
Robert S. Rifkind
Arthur E. Roswell
Elizabeth Blaustein Roswell
Bruce Rubin
Hon.
Stephen Schwebel
Jane Silverman
David F. Squire
Daniel Terris
