CCJO René Cassin
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CCJO RenéCassin is an organisation of Jewish people committed to the promotion of universal human rights. The group aims to build on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, one of whose authors, René Cassin, was the president of the Consultative Council of Jewish Organisations (CCJO). The CCJO is a human rights organisation founded in 1946 that has consultative status at the United Nations and other international organisations.
They have accreditation to the United Nations through their affiliation with the CCJO (Consultative Council of Jewish Organisations), which itself was founded by René Cassin, the Nobel Prize Winner and one of the authors of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
CCJO René Cassin recently negotiated the first-ever reference to group / collective rights in a United Nations instrument (The Basic Principles on Rights to Victims). The principles were adopted by the UN General Assembly in November 2005. The group has offered aid and assistance to other minority groups.
It has campaigned on refugee rights, genocide prevention, religious freedom, racial equality and international restitution issues and has a human rights education programme.
The group has chapters in the UK, France and Holland.
It is co-chaired by Maya Jaffe and Victoria Prais. In December 2005, it appointed its first full-time director, Clive Gabay. Sarah Kaiser replaced Gabay in November 2006. In October 2010, Kaiser was succeeded by Simone Abel, an attorney with previous experience at Human Rights Watch, New York, and two leading international law firms.
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[edit] Aims
- To work with the international human rights community to advance the human rights of all persons and communities around the world.
- To take this agenda forward at the United Nations and other appropriate fora.
- To work with other Jewish organisations to increase awareness of human rights and encourage activism within Jewish communities on behalf of the dispossessed and oppressed of the world.
[edit] History
RenéCassin was established in 2000 by a group of young professionals They had all participated in a delegation to the former United Nations Commission on Human Rights (now reformed as the United Nations Human Rights Council) organised by the Consultative Council of Jewish Organisations (CCJO). At the Commission, the group was dismayed by the complete absence of a Jewish voice speaking out on universal human rights issues. This experience inspired them to set up RenéCassin to ensure that there would in future be a Jewish voice speaking out for international human rights.
The group has campaigned at the UN and in other fora on issues including immigration, terrorism and torture. In 2005, as part of a campaign for restitution for victims of genocide, RenéCassin representatives negotiated the first-ever reference to group rights in a United Nations Instrument (the Basic Principles on Rights to Victims).
In 2003, RenéCassin began to engage with the Jewish community in the UK to promote awareness of human rights and encourage activism, by hosting a series of high-level public events, including panel debates and conferences. Speakers at these events have included Dame Ruth Deech, Dr Indarjit Singh and Peter Tatchell.
RenéCassin was chaired for its first few years by two young lawyers, Alexander Goldberg and Daniel Kingsley. The group employed its first full-time Director, Clive Gabay in 2005. This enabled the further expansion and development of the group from a voluntary to a professional organisation. Sarah Kaiser was employed as Director in November 2006.
In 2007, RenéCassin launched the Jewish Human Rights Network to bring Jewish people together to speak out for human rights, with the support of the Chief Rabbi, the Attorney General and representatives from across the Jewish community and human rights community.
[edit] Issues and Campaigns
- Genocide and Crimes against Humanity: Darfur RenéCassin’s major international campaign in recent years has been to bring a peaceful resolution to the crisis in Darfur. More specifically, they have called for United Nations peace-keeping forces to be sent to the area, a no-fly zone to be enforced over Darfur and support from the international community to pursue convictions for the perpetrations of the crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court. In keeping with this, RenéCassin has repeatedly highlighted the situation in Darfur via interventions delivered to the United Nations Human Rights Council.
- Destitute Asylum Seekers A call for an end to the dispersal of asylum seekers to deprived areas around the country and the denial of both the right to work and benefits to asylum seekers who may not be able to return to their home country.
- Religious and Racial Discrimination RenéCassin supported the London Jewish Forum’s ‘Racism isn’t Kosher’ campaign in July 2007. RenéCassin prepared promotional materials on the Jewish commitment to anti-racism work for distribution at the Rise against Racism festival.
[edit] Education
RenéCassin has been committed to providing transformative human rights education since 2003, seeing it as key in fostering an appreciation of human rights within society. Developing a wide range of assemblies and workshops suitable for secondary school pupils, they have made a large investment in the education of school children. In 2008, on the Global Day for Darfur, the group hosted its first full-day conference entitled ‘What’s so Jewish about Human Rights?’ and the event has become an annual fixture.
[edit] Jewish Human Rights Network
In May 2008 RenéCassin launched the Jewish Human Rights Network in an attempt to bring together the main Jewish human rights groups to strengthen the Jewish voice in the international community. Membership of the Network is open to any organisation or individual that signs up to the Declaration on Human Rights and Judaism. The Declaration has been signed by several notable figures within the Jewish community and wider human rights world including the President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the Attorney General, Francesca Klug OBE and the Chief Rabbi
