Prisoner of Conscience: a person who is persecuted for the non-violent act of protecting or advancing human rights.

We are a UK-based charity providing both financial and practical assistance to prisoners of conscience and human rights defenders. We believe that no-one should be persecuted, silenced, tortured or forced to flee their country for protecting or advancing human rights. Who’s with us?

How we support human rights globally

Hardship Grants

Lina, a human rights activist from Afghanistan, was threatened and detained by the Taliban after protesting against their repression of women’s rights. For months afterwards she lived in hiding, fearing for her and her family’s lives.

Prisoners of Conscience provided Lina with an emergency grant which enabled her to flee to a neighbouring country and continue her human rights work.

Family Reunion Grants

Reny is an engineer and pastor from the DRC. In 2017, he reported on human rights violations by the government during a military conflict. This open reporting led him to be questioned and tortured by the Intelligence Service for over a week. Fearing for his life, Reny decided to flee alone to the UK after the ordeal.

PoC awarded Reny a grant to help him bring his wife and children to the UK allowing them to rebuild their lives together.

Requalification Bursaries

Mohamad is a solicitor from Syria who advocated for the release of those prosecuted for expressing their political views. Syrian security forces detained him for doing so, and tortured him for over a week. Mohamad was forced to escape the country after being released.

After arriving in the UK, Mohamad was keen to rebuild his family’s life, and continue legal practice. With the help of a PoC requalification bursary grant, Mohamad completed his legal conversion studies and has managed to secure a training contract to qualify as a solicitor.

Our Charitable Objects and Theory of Change

Our vision is a world in which prisoners of conscience and human rights defenders are able to live in safety and with self-determination to uphold and advance human rights. See our charitable objects and theory of change here.

Will you join us?

Supporting a prisoner of conscience in need could be as simple as signing up.

Join our Cause

By signing up, you’ll join a community of human rights champions standing up against injustice. Show those who risk their lives for human rights that they are not alone.

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