Union of Councils for Soviet Jews

Union of Councils for Jews in the Former Soviet Union (abbreviated UCSJ) is an umbrella organization of Jewish human rights groups working in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The UCSJ is based in Washington, D.C. and is linked to other organizations such as the Moscow Helsinki Group and it has offices in the countries where they operate.

The UCSJ was formed in 1970 as a response to the oppression of Jews in the Soviet Union and other countries of the Soviet bloc. Today, most of its offices are based within the United States where it has eight member councils. Additionally there are seven offices in various locations in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, including Moscow, Almaty, Bishkek, Lviv, Riga, Tbilisi and Minsk (although the latter was closed in 2005).

Activities

Activities of the UCSJ include reporting on the human rights situation of countries in the former Soviet Union (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.

Funding

The UCSJ receives its funding from the European Commission of the European Union as part of a three-year project designed to combat racism, antisemitism and islamophobia in Eastern European countries. The reports it produces on the situation in various countries are often presented to the US State Department.

Some 525,000 Jews remained in the post-Soviet states in 2003. Almost 450,000 of them live in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova. [ [http://www.tau.ac.il/Anti-Semitism/asw2003-4/cis.htm Stephen Roth Institute: Antisemitism And Racism ] ]

Notable cases

Fighting antisemitism in the Russian State Duma

Nineteen members of the State Duma from Motherland and the Communist party have signed a letter demanding Jewish organizations be banned in Russia. The letter referred to Judaism as a religion promoting ethnic hatred and made reference to the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch. In that regard, UCSJ made the following statement:

"The best example of how far some members of the national parliament are willing to go to demonize minorities came in January 2005, when 19 members of the State Duma from Motherland and the Communist party signed an open letter to the Prosecutor General’s office demanding that Jewish groups be banned in Russia. The letter referred to Judaism as a “Satanic” religion and made reference to the medieval Blood Libel (the belief that Jews ritually murder Christian children during Passover and use their blood to bake matzo). Russian Jewish groups—who have long ago grown accustomed to more modern-day antisemitic accusations of controlling the media, the financial system, etc.—reacted with horror to this intellectual descent into the barbarism of the Dark Ages". [ [http://lantos.house.gov/HoR/CA12/Human+Rights+Caucus/Briefing+Testimonies/06-08-06+Testimony+of+Nickolai+Butkevich+Russia+Religious+Briefing.htm Testimony of Nickolai Butkevich, Research and Advocacy Director, UCSJ: Union of Councils for Jews in the Former Soviet Union] . CHRC Members' Briefing: Human Rights in Russia – Religious Freedom Under Attack. (US Congressional Human Rights Caucus (CHRC)) May 17, 2006]

An investigation was launched, but halted after an international outcry. [ [http://www.fsumonitor.com/stories/012805Bigotry.shtml Deputies Urge Ban on Jewish Organizations, Then Retract] - Bigotry Monitor. Volume 5, Number 4. January 28, 2005. Published by UCSJ. Editor: Charles Fenyvesi] [ [http://www.fsumonitor.com/stories/070105Bigotry.shtml Russia to Drop Probe of Jewish Law Code Accused of Stoking Ethnic Hatred] - Bigotry Monitor. Volume 5, Number 26. July 1, 2005. Published by UCSJ. Editor: Charles Fenyvesi] The Prosecutor dropped charges of antisemitism against Duma deputies. [ [http://www.fsumonitor.com/stories/061705BM.shtml Prosecutor Drops Charges of Antisemitism Against Duma Deputies] - Bigotry Monitor. Volume 5, Number 24. June 17, 2005. Published by UCSJ. Editor: Charles Fenyvesi]

The case of Boris Stomakhin

UCSJ president Micah H. Naftalin condemned conviction of journalist Boris Stomakhin, who was accused of hate speech:

"This sentence exposes the underlying hypocrisy of the Russian government's half-hearted struggle against extremist groups and hate speech." "This month alone, the FSB refused to investigate the distribution of a neo-Nazi hit list containing the names and addresses of human rights activists whom the authors 'sentenced to death,' a publisher of a newspaper in Ulyanovsk who publicly called for the murder of Jews got a suspended sentence, and three youths who broke the jaw and fractured the skull of the Minister of Culture of the Kabardino-Balkaria Republic while screaming racist slogans were sentenced to just six months to a year in prison. You don't have to agree with Mr. Stomakhin's radical, though non-violent, views on Chechnya to see that his sentence was disproportionate and unjust." [ [http://www.fsumonitor.com/stories/112006PR.shtml Press Release: Jewish Activist Convicted in Russia] . News from UCSJ. November 20, 2006]

In Belarus

The UCSJ alerted [ [http://www.fsumonitor.com/stories/091697aa.shtml "Blood Libel" Documentary Broadcast in Belarus] - The Union of Councils for Soviet Jews (UCSJ) Action Alert - campaign against antisemitic programming on state TV. September 16, 1997] the public to the revival of the cult of Russian Orthodox Church child saint Gavriil Belostoksky and related blood libel accusations in Belarus, after the Belarusian state TV showed a film alleging that his ritual murder was a true story. [ [http://www.fsumonitor.com/stories/belupd.shtml July 1997. Blood Libel Accusation Revived] Belarus Report, Dr. Yakov Basin, August 10, 1997. UCSJ Position Paper. Belarus - Chronicle of Antisemitism. April-December, 1997.] [ru icon [http://www.vestnik.com/issues/97/0902/win/stonov.htm Is the New in the Post-Soviet Space Only the Forgotten Old?] by Leonid Stonov, International Director of Bureau for the Human Rights and Law-Observance in the Former Soviet Union, the President of the American Association of Jews from the former USSR ("Vestnik" magazine)]

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")

References

External links

* [http://www.fsumonitor.com UCSJ official site]
* [http://www.fsumonitor.com/stories/112006PR.shtml Last press release]
* [http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/comenetz/jewishlinks.html Learn about Jews and Judaism]

Other Jewish organizations in the former Soviet Union

*Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS
*Russian Jewish Congress
*The Congress of Jewish Religious Communities of Russia (KEROOR) headed by Adolf Shaievich
* [http://www.wcrj.org/english/index.php The World Congress of Russian Jewry]
* [http://www.jewish.ru/ Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia (FEOR)]
*Vaad (Association of Jewish Organizations and Communities of Russia)
*Moscow Jewish Community
*Jewish Association of St. Petersburg (JASP).
* [http://www.chabad.org/ Chabad Lubavitch movement]
* [http://www.jum.ru/indexe.htm Jewish University in Moscow]
* [http://www.ort.spb.ru/friend/pju/index.html Petersburg Institute for Jewish Studies]
* [http://www.hillel.org/index Foundation for Jewish Campus Life (Hillel)]