Raoul Wallenberg Institute Library

General information

The Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law is an independent academic institution, founded in 1984 at the Law Faculty at Lund University in Sweden. In legal terms the Institute is a charitable trust under Swedish private law, governed by a Board of Directors. It is named after Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat, in order to pay homage to his well known humanitarian work in Hungary at the end of the Second World War.

The mission of the Institute is to promote universal respect for human rights and humanitarian law, by means of research, academic education, dissemination of information and institutional development programmes and our vision is to be a centre of excellence promoting the development of societies based on a human rights culture. The Institute is a value driven organisation and our four core values are: Respect, Integrity, Inclusiveness and Inspiration.

Hosting one of the largest human rights libraries in northern Europe and engaged in various education, research and publication activities, the Institute provides a conducive environment for studies and research. The Institute combines academic programmes with an extensive international human rights capacity development programme, mainly for academic institutions, law enforcement and criminal justice institutions, and national human rights institutions. This combination provides a unique platform where theory and practice can meet and interact in order to further the development and application of international human rights law.

The Institute cooperates with a variety of Swedish and international partners. In addition to the close cooperation with Lund University, the Institute maintains relations with other academic institutions, international organisations, government agencies and civil society organisations in different parts of the world. The Institute is member of several Nordic, European and international networks within the framework of its mandate.

The Institute's activities do not involve official reporting on State performance, monitoring of State compliance or other methods of work which could be considered confrontational in character or nature.