International Human Rights
Programme
Protecting and promoting the human rights of all people
Overview
Since 1948 the global community has developed an extensive body of international law and principles to protect human rights. But the development and implementation of these standards has always faced opposition. There remains a gulf between human rights rhetoric and the lived experience of so many people. We seek to close that gap. Oak Trustees have a long-standing interest in protecting the fundamental rights of the individual, supporting those who champion that struggle, and ensuring that perpetrators of gross abuses are held to account. You can read more about our strategy below.
Our programme grant-making in 2022
We made 34 grants totalling USD 28,14 million
Our priorities
We support organisations involved in creative efforts that support our aims, including documentation, evidence collection, campaigns, strategic litigation, and outreach. We also support those who empower human rights defenders, by improving their physical and digital security and enhancing their effectiveness through a range of technological tools. We provide core, project, and seed funding in multi-year grants.
To close the impunity gap for gross violations of human rights by investigating and documenting gross abuses, holding abusers to account, and seeking victim redress.
We support efforts which:
- place accountability for gross abuses on the public and political agenda;
- research, document, and collect evidence of gross abuses for accountability processes;
- hold abusers to account by launching prosecutions and civil suits and ensuring justice beyond the verdict or decision; and
- collect and safeguard historical documentation of past abuses.
To uphold fundamental guarantees in international law which prohibit arbitrary detention and torture and ensure the observance of due process guarantees.
We support efforts in the immigration and criminal justice contexts which reduce arbitrary detention by:
- ensuring independent and adequate oversight of detention regimes; and
- promoting attitudinal change by the state on the necessity and duration of detention; and
- promoting, developing, and implementing alternatives to detention.
We also support interventions which:
- uphold the due process rights of detainees including their right to challenge their detention; and
- uphold the absolute prohibition on torture and ensure that victims of torture can access their right to rehabilitation.
To ensure that LGBTQI communities are free from discriminatory prosecution, persecution and violence.
We support efforts which:
- strengthen the legal framework that guarantees freedom from criminalisation, hate, and violence;
- end stigmatisation and build public consensus in support of ending the persecution of LGBTQI communities;
- provide legal, psychosocial, and protective services for LGBTQI victims of hate and violence; and
- build the documentation, advocacy, and management skills of LGBTQI advocates.
To protect human rights defenders at risk, strengthen their capacity, combat closing civic space, and build a strong and resilient human rights movement.
We support efforts which:
- monitor and engage in protective advocacy for human rights defenders at risk, and support a localised, contextual approach to threat analysis and preparedness;
- strengthen international protection networks to ensure a robust, responsive safety-net for human rights defenders under threat;
- reverse the global trend of closing civic space including through the creation of broad coalitions comprising civil society and donors and the amplification of civil society voices through influential media;
- equip human rights defenders with the necessary skills and technological innovations to effectively conduct their work; and build a resilient human rights movement, supported by broad constituencies, diverse revenue streams and effective outreach to new audiences.
Our funding principles
Our grant-making is underpinned by the following:
Upholding the international legal framework
We support work that is based upon and seeks to uphold, strengthen, and implement international human rights law.
Promoting systemic change
We prioritise initiatives that seek to deliver concrete systemic change beyond individual redress.
Supporting activism
We support initiatives that seek to create change through activism (for example, advocacy, campaigning, and strategic litigation).
Strengthening our partners
Our grant-making is a partnership. We empower and build the capacity of our partners.
Strengthening the global human rights movement
We support and mobilise diverse constituencies in support of human rights worldwide.
Where we fund
We work internationally at the global, regional, and national levels. We fund directly in the EU (including the UK), the US, Brazil, India, and Myanmar. There is very limited capacity to expand our geographic coverage. Exceptionally, we sometimes work with intermediary organisations in those geographies where there is potential to advance specific lines of work where we are not currently active.
Discover our partner stories
Would you like to read more stories like this? Please visit our “Stories” page.
Watch our latest videos
Around the world, immigration detention is increasingly imposed, not as a ‘last resort’, as required in international law, but as a routine tool of migration management. The collective efforts of our partners successfully garnered cross-party support for an amendment to the Immigration and Social Security Coordination (EU Withdrawal) Bill, which set out a 28-day time limit to immigration detention. Our partners remain committed to seeking ways to implement the amendment’s measures in the new parliament, and to securing a strict time limit to detention with robust judicial oversights.
Would you like to see more videos? Please visit our YouTube channel.