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Revision as of 13:44, 23 January 2006
Union of Councils for Jews in the Former Soviet Union (abbreviated UCSJ) is a collection of Jewish human rights organizations working in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. They are based in Washington DC, but are linked to other organizations such as the Moscow Helsinki Group and have offices in the countries in where they operate.
The UCSJ was formed in 1970 as a response to the second class citizen status of Jews in the USSR and Eastern Europe. Today, most of its offices are based within the United States where it has 8 member councils, although there are seven offices in various locations in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, including Moscow, Almaty, Bishkek, Lviv, Riga, Tbilisi and Minsk (although this was closed in 2005).
Their activities include reporting on the human rights situations of countries in the FSU, as well as assisting communities in need, providing support for asylum seekers and migrants, exposing human rights violations and hate crimes, whether these are targeted against Jews or other minorities in the region, such as Roma or Muslims. It receives funding from the European Commission of the European Union as part of a three-year project designed to combat racism, anti-semitism and islamophobia in Eastern European countries and the reports it produces on the situation in various countries are often presented to the US State Department.
Controversies
The UCSJ is one of the organizations included in the letter signed by members of the Russian Duma which called for criminal investigations of Jewish organizations and Judaism itself. It was accused of fomenting racial hatred by Jews against other religions, a charge it denies.
A branch of the UCSJ was closed by the government of Belarus as part of what many observers saw as a wider crackdown on political dissent in the region. (main article - Human rights in Belarus)