The World Jewish Congress is an international organization
whose mission is to address the interests and needs of
Jews and Jewish communities throughout the world.
Founded in Geneva in 1936 to unite the Jewish people
and mobilize the world against the Nazi onslaught, the
WJC is the representative body of Jewish communities
and organizations in over 80 countries from Argentina
to Zimbabwe across six continents. It seeks to foster
the unity and creative survival of the Jewish people
while maintaining its spiritual, cultural and social
heritage.
Towards these ends, the World Jewish Congress works
to ----
- Secure the rights and safety Jews and Jewish communities
around the world;
- Intensify the bonds of world Jewry and strengthen
the ties of solidarity among Jewish communities everywhere;
- Act in coordination with and on behalf of Jewish
communities before governmental, intergovernmental
and other international authorities on matters concerning
the Jewish people, and;
- Cooperate with all peoples on the basis of universal
ideas of peace, freedom and justice.
Membership in the WJC is open to all representative
Jewish groups or communities, irrespective of the social,
political or economic ideology of the community's host
country. The World Jewish Congress is supported by those
communities and individual members who as concerned Jewish
citizens want their voices to be heard on matters of
concern to the Jewish people.
With headquarters in New York, the WJC has affiliate
offices around the world including Brussels, Budapest,
Buenos Aires, Geneva, Johannesburg, Moscow, Ottawa, Paris,
Sydney and Jerusalem where the WJC's research institute
is located.
As a global leader, the World Jewish Congress received
special credentials and recognition at the United Nations
making it unique among world-wide organizations as it
enjoys a diplomatic seat in the U.N. and within many
of it institutions, commissions and sub-bodies.
The core principle of the World Jewish Congress is that
all Jews are responsible for one another. We seek to
achieve this by governing with consensus and celebrating
unity in our vast diversity.
As we have been for nearly three quarters of a century,
the World Jewish Congress continues to be the permanent
address of the Jewish people.
Click here to read more
about issues facing world Jewry and the WJC's intiatives.