We are a research and academic institution with international presence that works to promote and advance human rights through knowledge. Our mission is to promote universal respect for human rights and humanitarian law. We carry out multi-disciplinary human rights research, provide academic education, support and advice. Through our international programmes, we build capacity and strengthen knowledge about human rights empowering institutions and individuals that can improve the human rights situation across the world. What makes us unique is that we combine research with direct engagement.

The institute is named after Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who saved tens of thousands of Jews and other people at risk in Hungary at the end of World War II.