UCSJ was founded in 1970 as a coalition of local grass-roots "action" councils supporting freedom for Jews of the Soviet Union. As the Soviet Jewry movement gathered steam in the 1970s, more councils were formed, more individuals became involved, and UCSJ grew to become the largest independent grassroots Soviet Jewry organization in the world.
UCSJ has two councils in Boston and Chicago which twin Jewish communities in the United States with emerging Jewish communities in the FSU. They also identify elderly persons (Bubbes) who need help and provide subsistence, and often send medical doctors to give needed assistance where required. UCSJ's main office is located in Washington, D.C., with an additional office in Highland Park, IL. In the former Soviet Union, UCSJ sponsors four bureaus: in Moscow, Lviv (Ukraine), Riga (Latvia), and Minsk (Belarus).
UCSJ is the largest independent grassroots organization advocating for Jews and human rights in the former Soviet Union (FSU). By monitoring and advocating the causes of Jews and other persecuted minorities, UCSJ's activity also promotes the human rights and security of all. We accomplish this by advocating to government officials in the US and abroad on behalf of the victims of persecution in the FSU, providing material and spiritual programs, publicizing incidents of antisemitism, extremism, xenophobia, religous persecution, and other human rights abuses.
UCSJ's reports, including its weekly email newsletter, "Bigotry Monitor," can be found on its website: ucsj.org. The reports of the Moscow Helsinki Group can also be found on UCSJ's website. UCSJ and MHG were partners in a 4-year project, "Human Rights Monitoring in the Russian Regions," supported by U.S.A.I.D.
Under the leadership of UCSJ's late national director Micah H. Naftalin, UCSJ, the Moscow Helsinki Group, and the International Youth Human Rights Movement founded the Coalition Against Hate (CAH), which now has 54 member NGOs working to promote human rights, tolerance, and anti-fascist values in the Former Soviet Union (FSU). Organizing the CAH marked the first time history that an alliance of NGOs has worked together in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus to monitor and combat antisemitism, xenophobia, and religious intolerance. Thanks largely to our joint efforts to publicize hate crimes in the region, both the Russian and Ukrainian governments are now devoting more effort to arresting and prosecuting members of extremist groups and other perpetrators of hate crimes. Unfortunately, such groups continue to expand their membership, especially in Russia, and are becoming increasingly radicalized, posting online murder videos and bombing, stabbing, and beating to death their victims as part of a systematic campaign to "cleanse" their neighborhoods of ethnic and religious minorities. The task before us is therefore more pressing than ever.