Founded in 1912, the International Council of Jewish Women (ICJW) is an umbrella organisation representing Jewish women and Jewish women’s organizations in 34 countries. ICJW is a women’s rights NGO rooted in the voluntary involvement of Jewish women motivated by their roots in Judaism. Since its establishment and throughout its history, ICJW evolved with the needs and events locally, also on the national and international levels.

Promoting a Just Society based on Human Rights and Jewish Values, each affiliate participates in a variety of projects promoting women’s rights in general and within the Jewish communities. Violence against women in all its forms (trafficking, rape, intersectional discriminations, etc.) is a main concern of ICJW. According to the UN principle of “leaving no one behind”, ICJW advocates for children rights (especially protecting the girls), elder people’s rights, and combats discrimination of migrants and minorities. ICJW fights holocaust denial, antisemitism, racism and anti-Israel bias.

ICJW representatives’ participation in the NGO Committees reflecting on ICJW’s priorities: Committee on the Status of Women (CSW), Geneva NGO Committee on Human Rights, NY NGO Committee to Stop Trafficking in Persons, NY and Geneva NGO Ageing Committee. For more than 15 years ICJW is a member of the UN NGO Geneva FORB Committee (Freedom of Religion or Belief) and participates in the FORB WhatsApp group.

In many other countries ICJW’s affiliates are active in interfaith dialogues, in majority within women’s groups. In Toronto, the Interfaith women’s group fights violence against women; in France the Jewish-Muslim group is called “Paroles de Femmes”; in Israel the grassroots women’s movement of 45.000 members “Women Wage Peace” unites Jewish, Christian and Muslim women in their search for a hopeful future peace. They work together with their Palestinian Counterpart-Women of the Sun, even after October 7.

Participative Status: 2003 Consultative Status to the CoE:  1972

Geographical Representation:

Austria, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Israel, North Macedonia, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom.

Accreditations: Council of Europe, European Women’s Lobby (Brussels), UN (Geneva, New York, Vienna), UNESCO (Paris):

The focus of our engagement lies on:

• Interfaith dialogues, in majority within women’s groups
• Combating violence against women
• Combating antisemitism
• Peacebuilding
• Human Rights
• Freedom of Religion and belief