JBI Human Rights

JBI Commemorates 75th Anniversary of Genocide Convention and Lemkin's Legacy, Named UN "Champion of Prevention"

December 9, 2023 marks the 75th anniversary of the adoption by the UN General Assembly of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Convention). The Genocide Convention’s adoption, ratification, and effective implementation have been significant JBI priorities since its founding in 1971. JBI’s 2001 publication An Epitaph for Raphael Lemkin, by Dr. William Korey, led the UN to formally recognize Lemkin’s role in developing the Genocide Convention for the first time. JBI also developed, in cooperation with the UN Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, a Compilation of Human Rights-Related Risk Factors for Genocide, a Manual on Human Rights and the Prevention of Genocide, and the 2022 UN Policy Paper Combating Holocaust and Genocide Denial: Protecting Survivors, Preserving Memory, and Promoting Prevention.

In recognition of these efforts, JBIs work was featured in two of the official events commemorating the landmark 75th anniversary of the Genocide Convention: the official UN event marking the International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide, at which JBI was recognized by the UN Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide as a "Champion of Prevention," and an event convened by JBI in cooperation with the UN Special Adviser on Genocide Prevention reflecting on the legacy of Raphael Lemkin, the "Father of the Genocide Convention."

New JBI Appeal Tracks Surging Global Antisemitism and Calls for Protection

The Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights (JBI) has issued a new appeal, Global Leaders, Experts Must Reject Surging Antisemitism Worldwide and Affirm Jews’ Equal Rights, which provides emblematic examples from 25 countries reflecting incidents in which antisemitic hate speech, discrimination, and physical attacks against Jews and Jewish sites have occurred since Hamas’s October 7 attack against Israel.

Observing that Jews worldwide are facing an alarming and unprecedented surge in hatred and threats of violence, it notes that “Silence by international authorities in this context is perceived to reflect ambivalence or uncertainty as to how antisemitism is manifested in contexts involving Israel, and has been deeply alienating for the already traumatized Jews who are its real targets.” It calls on United Nations leaders, experts, and others to reaffirm that international and political developments never justify antisemitism and to clarify that while criticism of Israel is not per se antisemitic, such expression is condemnable when it reflects, fuels, or incites identity-based hatred of or violence or discrimination against Jews. 

The appeal also urges leaders and experts to:

• Call on governments to assess Jewish communities’ needs in coordination with them and provide the necessary security assistance they require at this time of crisis.
• Call on governments to ensure that police and law enforcement are aware of the urgent need to protect Jews from threats of violence and ensure police and law enforcement receive training and instruction that Jewish people are not responsible for the words and actions of the Israeli or any other government, and that acts directed against them on this basis are antisemitic.
• Call on social media and technology companies to prohibit antisemitic content on their platforms and services, including misinformation and disinformation that has the effect of conveying antisemitic stereotypes and conspiracies, and take the necessary steps to fully enforce their harmful content and misinformation policies across all languages and dialects.
• Urge university administrators to condemn antisemitic acts and ensure the safety of Jewish students, like all other students.
• Call on other non-state actors, including faith leaders and civil society organizations, to reject and counter antisemitic statements, including those that imply that Jewish people are responsible for the words and actions of the Israeli government.

The full appeal is available here.

Iran: One Year After Mahsa Amini’s Killing, Widespread Human Rights Violations Remain an Urgent Concern

One year after historic popular protests against pervasive violence and discrimination against women emerged across Iran, the regime remains resolutely committed to denying its people’s human rights.  

On September 16, 2022, Jina Mahsa Amini died in custody following her arrest three days earlier by Iran’s morality police, who had accused her of failing to cover her hair in accordance with the country’s mandatory veiling law for women. Amini’s death sparked more than 1,600 protests around the country, many led by women and girls and featuring chants of “Woman, Life, Freedom.” 

The protests were followed by widespread or systematic killing, imprisonment, enforced disappearances, torture, rape and sexual violence, and persecution. Iranian authorities reportedly killed more than 500 protestors, more than half from Kurdish and Baluch areas of Iran, and nearly 20,000 protesters were arrested. Among those particularly targeted for arrest and punishment were hundreds of children, more than 60 of whom were killed. Many of those arrested were subjected to torture and ill-treatment and were tried in secret before Islamic revolutionary courts in proceedings that violated basic due process standards. Iranian authorities also imposed internet blackouts and other extreme restrictions on communication to prevent the sharing of information and further protests.

As Iranian authorities deepen their repression, it is incumbent on the international community to recognize and condemn these ongoing abuses and insist on a change. Additional analysis and recommendations from the Jacob Blaustein Institute about speaking out and accountability are detailed in the report, found here.  

New JBI Appeal Calls for Urgent Protective Action in Response to the Escalating Risk of Genocide in Darfur, Sudan

A new statement by the Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights (JBI), The Escalating Risk of Genocide in Darfur, Sudan: Urgent Appeal for Protection, calls on the U.S. and other foreign governments to make it an urgent priority to act individually and collectively to compel the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and militias allied with it to cease carrying out attacks targeting members of non-Arab groups and to protect populations that are currently threatened with genocide in Darfur.

Since violent conflict erupted in Sudan in April 2023, serious violations of international humanitarian law appear to have been committed by each of the principal parties to the conflict – the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary RSF. Particularly alarmingly, photographic evidence, satellite imagery, and testimonies published as of August 20, 2023, indicate that at least six of the Human Rights Related Risk-Factors for Genocide developed by JBI in cooperation with the Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide have been committed by the RSF and allied militias against non-Arab groups, particularly the Masalit, in Darfur. These include the widespread commission of human rights abuses targeting members of particular ethnic groups such as destruction and looting of property; denial of access to basic necessities; forcible transfer; killing and enforced disappearances, including of community leaders; denial of freedom of movement; and the commission of sexual violence.

JBI has previously appealed for effective international action to respond to the genocide committed from 2003-2005 against some of the same non-Arab groups in Darfur that are once again being targeted with serious patterns of violations again today. The reported violations being documented in Darfur are a shameful reminder of the consequences of inadequately responding to risks of genocide.

Regrettably, for the most part, the international actors and foreign governments that are endeavoring to bring about an end to the broader conflict in Sudan have not yet responded to mounting evidence that a serious risk of genocide exists in Darfur by taking specific actions commensurate with it. While welcoming the August 9, 2023, warning by U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield to the UN Security Council that “History is repeating itself–in the most tragic way possible” in Darfur, JBI calls for the U.S. and foreign governments to take additional actions to respond to this risk as a matter of priority, in line with the obligation in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide for States to “employ all means reasonably available” to prevent genocide from taking place. Specifically, JBI calls on the U.S. and other governments to:

1. Urgently undertake diplomatic efforts to mobilize governments to express concern about the risk of genocide in Darfur at the highest levels of leadership and to take actions aimed at addressing this risk;
2. Make it a diplomatic priority to impede the ability of the RSF and allied militias to obtain weapons and other forms of support that are enabling them to carry out ethnically-motivated violence in Darfur;
3. Take measures to protect civilians in Darfur and Sudanese refugees in Chad and ensure they have access to humanitarian aid;
4. Engage representative Darfuri stakeholders in all ongoing processes to negotiate solutions to the conflict in Sudan; and
5. Encourage UN leaders to undertake, and States to support and initiate, fact-finding efforts that include an assessment of whether the obligation to prevent genocide has been triggered in Darfur and elsewhere in Sudan, and to make their findings public, and urge all UN system actors to (i) report on and express concern to relevant stakeholders when they become aware that human rights violations constituting risk factors for genocide are occurring, (ii) avoid taking actions that aid forces engaged in abuses constituting risk factors for genocide, and (iii) avoid repeating past failures in this area, for example as occurred in Myanmar in the context of the genocidal attack against the Rohingya.

The full JBI statement can be viewed here.

JBI Urges International Action to Curb Domestic Repression and Widespread Rights Abuses in Russia

Since 2021, Russian authorities have escalated their longstanding concerted campaign of repression directed against its perceived domestic opponents for the apparent purpose of silencing dissent and independent groups within Russia. This repression has entailed widespread violations of the rights to freedom of expression, assembly and association; and arbitrary detention, often  accompanied by torture and ill-treatment.

As a consequence of this repression, Russia’s civil society, independent media, and political opposition have been dramatically weakened; the number of political prisoners and wrongly detained individuals has increased; and many who have not been detained for having expressed opposition to the war or for having engaged in political dissent, human rights advocacy, or independent journalism have been compelled to flee the country or curtail their work. Russia’s domestic repression has also been both a catalyst of and a consequence of its aggression against Ukraine and its commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

 In a new briefing paper, entitled “Human Rights Violations inside the Russian Federation: A Catalyst and Consequence of Russia’s Aggression,” the Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights calls on governments to take measures, individually and collectively, including at the United Nations, to respond meaningfully to Russia’s domestic repression.

Specifically, JBI recommends that all governments: 

1.    Support independent monitors documenting rights violations committed by Russia, particularly the newly-appointed UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Russia and human rights defenders and journalists who have been forced to flee the country, and amplify their findings.

2.   Hold Russia accountable at international organizations for its systematic rights violations, particularly by ensuring that Russia’s campaign for re-election to the UN Human Rights Council in October is unsuccessful.                                                        

3.   take steps to hold Russian perpetrators of serious human rights violations accountable, particularly by designating additional Russian officials under so called “Magnitsky-style” targeted sanctions regimes that allow for the imposition of financial sanctions and travel restrictions against individuals credibly alleged to have committed serious human rights violations or engaged in corruption.

4.   Provide protection and redress to Russian human rights defenders, journalists, and other victims of its repression, particularly by ensuring that foreign diplomats inside Russia actively seek to assess the detention conditions of and monitor judicial proceedings concerning Russian political prisoners and other wrongly detained individuals like Vladimir Kara-Murza and Alexei Navalny, who have allegedly been denied medical attention and are at serious risk of harm, and working to secure the release of foreign nationals wrongly detained by Russian authorities, including American journalist Evan Gershkovich.

The full statement is available here.

JBI Analysis of the International Criminal Court’s Arrest Warrant Against Russia’s President Putin for War Crimes Targeting Children in Ukraine

The Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights has published an analysis of the information known about and significance of the arrest warrants issued against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on March 17, 2023. These are the first warrants issued by the Court with respect to the situation in Ukraine, and the third time the Court has issued a warrant against a sitting Head of State.

The ICC has indicated that the arrest warrants issued on March 17, which are being kept confidential to protect victims, indicate that there are reasonable grounds to believe Putin and Lvova-Belova are responsible for the war crimes of forcible transfer and deportation of Ukrainian children from occupied areas of Ukraine to Russia, particularly from orphanages and care homes. It is alleged that many of these children have since been adopted by Russian families, a process facilitated by Presidential decrees issued by President Putin that expedite the process for children to acquire Russian citizenship. The ICC Prosecutor has said that these legal and policy measures “demonstrate an intention to permanently remove these children from their own country.”

While neither Russia nor Ukraine are parties to the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court, Ukraine has accepted the Court’s jurisdiction with respect to its own territory and is cooperating with its investigation.

JBI’s analysis examines the significance of the arrest warrants, recounts publicly-available reports of the alleged abduction and forcible transfer of Ukrainian children by Russian authorities since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, and describes the limitations on the ICC’s capacity to act further on the arrest warrants absent assistance from States parties to the Rome Statute. The ICC’s recent action is a significant step towards ensuring that senior Russian officials are held accountable for this particularly disturbing pattern of criminal behavior, but further action will be required to ensure that the affected children are returned to their families and that justice is done.

Read JBI’s full analysis here.

New JBI Appeal on the One-Year Anniversary of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine: Collective Action Needed to Uphold Human Rights, Secure Peace, and Ensure Justice

The Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights has published a new assessment of the international response to Russia’s unprovoked attack against and its reported commission of widespread and systematic human rights violations and war crimes in Ukraine to mark the one-year anniversary of the invasion.

Entitled JBI Appeal on the One-Year Anniversary of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine: Collective Action Needed to Uphold Human Rights, Secure Peace, and Ensure Justice, the new assessment calls on States to take further action, individually and collectively, to bring about an end to the conflict and the widespread human rights violations that are ongoing, while upholding Ukraine’s territorial integrity and creating the necessary conditions for the people of Ukraine to obtain redress, including guarantees that the harm to which they have been subjected will not be repeated in the future.

Among its recommendations, the assessment calls on States to:

• Maintain and continue to support the independent monitoring mechanisms documenting and verifying the reports of widespread violations emerging from Ukraine and Russia.
• Vote in favor of a resolution calling for extending the mandate of the Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine for another year which will be considered by the UN Human Rights Council in early April 2023.
• Provide financial support to the UN Human Rights Office to ensure the continued operation of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU).
• Encourage the UN Human Rights Office to provide adequate assistance to the new Special Rapporteur on human rights in Russia.
• Support and facilitate the work of independent human rights monitors and journalists reporting on human rights concerns in Ukraine and Russia.
• Continue to amplify the findings and conclusions of independent and impartial monitors and raise alarm about egregious abuses.
• Continue to draw attention to and amplify the findings of independent UN human rights monitors about serious violations in Ukraine, including at the Human Rights Council and the resumed emergency special session of the UN General Assembly on Ukraine.
• Following its publication in March 2023, circulate the report of the Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine as an official document of the UN Security Council and invite the Chair of the COI to brief the Council.
• Continue inviting senior UN human rights officials to brief the UN Security Council on Ukraine.
• Continue to invest diplomatic energy in mobilizing widespread support for collective responses to the crisis in Ukraine that reaffirm the importance of respect for human rights.
• Vote in favor of the draft resolution that the UN General Assembly will consider at the next meeting of the emergency special session on Ukraine on February 22, 2023.
• Consistently to express support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity and the need for accountability for atrocity crimes committed during the conflict.
• Encourage UN officials to continue to publicize information about the commission of serious human rights violations in Ukraine and Russia.
• Take further action to hold accountable and deter further harmful actions by the individuals and entities most responsible for violations in Ukraine.
• Provide support to efforts to gather evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine and facilitate prosecution of perpetrators of such acts.
• Increase the financial and personal consequences facing the individuals and entities most responsible for the continued aggression and gross human rights violations that Russian forces and those associated with them continue to commit against the people of Ukraine, including by strengthening existing sanctions.
• Ensure that those affected by the conflict in Ukraine receive needed assistance.
• Support measures aimed at ensuring that Ukrainian victims of the Russian aggression obtain redress and reparation for the harm they have experienced.
• Provide funds to support the UN’s $5.6 billion humanitarian appeal for Ukraine and neighboring countries that have accepted large numbers of refugees.
• Expand domestic infrastructure for refugee resettlement.

As Russia’s offensive campaign and illegitimate claim to sovereignty over several areas of Ukraine show no sign of abating, it is critical that States sustain these positive measures and deepen their commitment to securing a just resolution of the conflict in which Ukraine’s territorial integrity is maintained and in which victims of the many grave violations that have been committed are able to obtain justice and redress, as expeditiously as possible.

The full statement is available here.

JBI Calls for a More Robust International Response to Russia’s Invasion of and Human Rights Violations in Ukraine

The Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights (JBI) is alarmed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which poses an existential challenge to the rules-based global order and can be seen as an attack on democracy itself.  The high number of reported civilian casualties, the massive exodus of refugees and internal displacement that has been triggered by the brutal Russian military campaign, and reports of serious human rights violations committed by Russian forces in Ukrainian territory they now control are deeply concerning. As detailed in JBI's new statement, the reported violations include but are not limited to abductions and killings, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention, forced displacement, and torture and other ill-treatment of public officials, journalists, aid workers and Ukrainians protesting against Russia's actions. JBI's statement also notes reports that Russian officials have committed serious rights violations against their own citizens in the weeks since the invasion began, including large-scale detention of protesters and censorship aimed at preventing and punishing any criticism of the military campaign.

JBI's statement reviews the actions that governments have taken individually and at international bodies to respond to Russia's invasion and violations and calls for a more robust response. JBI calls on governments to continue their efforts to demand that Russia cease its aggression, withdraw from Ukraine, and respect its human rights obligations. It calls for governments to take measures to ensure that Ukrainian people fleeing the crisis receive the support and protection they require. It calls on governments to ensure that Russia's leaders face meaningful consequences for the violations they have committed, including at the UN and through strengthened sanctions. It calls on governments to support and strengthen the visibility of the work of the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, which has maintained an in-country monitoring mission in Ukraine throughout the recent hostilities. It calls on UN leaders and governments to ensure that concerns for human rights protection and accountability are integrated into every mechanism established to coordinate the global response to this crisis. The full statement is available here.

New JBI Study Identifies Surging Global Antisemitism as an Urgent Human Rights Crisis

A new report by the Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights (JBI) finds that antisemitic violence has increased in the two years since a landmark UN report on global antisemitism warned governments of its dangers. The JBI report tracks attacks against Jews and Jewish sites and trends in antisemitic rhetoric in 50 countries around the world since October 2020, including the sharp increase in antisemitic violence that occurred in May 2021.

The report, A Call to Action Against Antisemitism: Confronting Rising Global Antisemitism in the Context of COVID, Conspiracies, and Conflict is the third in a series produced by JBI since the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Dr. Ahmed Shaheed, published a historic report to the UN General Assembly on global antisemitism as a human rights concern in September 2019.

JBI Statement on the Need for Urgent Human Rights Protection and Monitoring in Afghanistan

The crisis in Afghanistan requires urgent protection of people and their human rights. The Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights (JBI) has released a statement that outlines the human rights dimensions of the situation and advises on what governments, acting individually and through international organizations, can and must do. It also recommends actions and principles to guide the responses of the United Nations system.  We call on the international community to ensure the safety of Afghans, particularly women and girls, who are most at risk under the Taliban, a UN designated terrorist organization.

As a matter of priority, JBI calls on governments to identify ways to evacuate women leaders, human rights defenders, and other at-risk persons, including US and NATO allies. JBI calls on member States at the UN to adopt a resolution both at the upcoming emergency session of the Human Rights Council as well as the UN General Assembly session for an effective monitoring and reporting mechanism. JBI also calls on the UN to state clearly that all UN system actors active in Afghanistan or engaging with the Taliban will adhere to a system-wide approach that prioritizes respect for human rights, which is a core purpose of the United Nations according to its Charter.

Please find our full statement and list of recommendations here.