The René Cassin Organisation

the jewish voice for human rights

Qui sommes-nous

Founded in 2000, René Cassin is a Human Rights NGO that uses historical Jewish experiences and positive Jewish values to educate and campaign on universal human rights issues. The organisation is named in honour of the Jewish Noble Peace Prize-winning lawyer, Monsieur René Cassin, who helped draft the UN Declaration of Human Rights in the aftermath of World War II.

Our Mission is to draw upon the experiences and values of Jewish people to promote the universal rights of all people through education and advocacy.

Our Aims:

• To promote and protect universal human rights through legal advocacy and campaigns;
• To raise awareness of human rights and foster activism in the Jewish and general communities;
• To promote the legacy of Nobel laureate and French jurist M. René Cassin, who co-drafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, by running educational and advocacy initiatives in defined human rights thematic areas, including discrimination, slavery, genocide and detention.

Educational Programmes:

• René Cassin Fellowship Program: The RCFP will bring together a cohort of 36 of the best and brightest young professionals from Europe, Israel and the US, and explore a range of human rights issues through a uniquely Jewish lens.
• René Cassin Legacy Essay Competition: To acknowledge outstanding papers on contemporary human rights issues of particular importance to our organisation.
• Crystal´s Vardo: a theatrical production
• Sukkot at René Cassin: René Cassin is celebrating Sukkot with the release of a new educational resource that links our Gypsy and Traveller campaign with the themes of the Jewish harvest festival.
• Limmud: Limmud Conference is a carnival of Jewish learning and a festival of the mind and spirit.
• Rights Respecting Schools: UNICEF UK´s Rights Respecting School Award (RRSA) provides a framework to help schools use the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) as the basis for their ethos.
• Human Rights Shabbat: Human Rights Shabbats bring communities together to celebrate social justice and human rights from a Jewish historical perspective and to establish sustainable social action initiatives.
• Activist Enrichment Programme: The AEP aims to develop a group of young professionals into committed and knowledgeable human rights activists.
• Human Rights Training Day

René Cassin runs campaigns in four core policy areas: Discrimination, Genocide, Slavery and Asylum and Immigration:

Shauna Leven is the Director of René Cassin.

For other net participants we can offer an expert guidance through trained staff, give an expert opinion, procure expert information and establish new contacts in the field of our work.