The Lantos Foundation Mission

Our Mission is to strengthen the role of human rights in American foreign policy and to be a vital voice standing up for our nation's most important values of decency, dignity, freedom, and justice in every corner of the world. Through education and advocacy we seek to promote the simple yet profound truth that we are indeed our brothers' keepers. In so doing we hope to carry on Congressman Lantos' remarkable legacy of service to humanity.

For almost 30 years, Tom and Annette Lantos worked together in the Congress, fighting for the human rights and dignity of people in every corner of the world. This commitment to human rights was a shared passion, born out of their joint experience as Holocaust survivors. With colleagues on both sides of the aisle, they co-founded the Congressional Human Rights Caucus and waged many important legislative battles. After his death, Congress permanently established the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, which continues the work of The Human Rights Caucus.

In the final weeks of his life, Tom asked that a non-profit be established to carry on the work he felt so passionately about. Tom was often quoted saying, “The veneer of civilization is paper thin. We are its guardians, and we can never rest.” It is now the mission of The Lantos Foundation to never rest in standing up for our nation's most important values. It is the steadfast devotion to those values of decency, dignity, and freedom that make us both the strongest and the most hopeful nation on the face of the earth. Tom believed this with every fiber of his being, and through the work of the Foundation we can, in Tom's words, carry "the noble banner of human rights to every corner of the world."

We continually refer to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to remember why we work towards our goal.