The Promise Institute for Human Rights at UCLA School of Law is the center of human rights education, research and advocacy at UCLA and around the region. Founded with a visionary gift in 2017, the Promise Institute at UCLA Law trains the next generation of human rights lawyers and leaders, generates vital scholarship, and develops programs for on-the-ground assistance to address the most pressing contemporary human rights concerns of our times – from race and migration to the environment and technology, matters which resonate with our location here in Los Angeles, and which are reshaping our world.

The $20 million commitment from film producers Eric Esrailian and Anthony Mandekic to launch the Institute was derived from the proceeds of the film The Promise, set during the Armenian genocide, which began in 1915, when more than 1.5. million people perished in an atrocity driven by ethnic and religious intolerance.

“The Promise Institute is so named because UCLA and the UCLA School of Law are making the promise to refugees and people suffering from injustice that we will create the tools and train the people to address these crises,” said Dr. Esrailian. “In this project, we are carrying on the work of Mr. Kerkorian, creating positive social impact, and informing people around the world about atrocities and our shared responsibility to recognize and prevent them.”