London

ABOUT US

Human Rights Watch is a leading international organisation dedicated to defending and promoting human rights around the world. Human Rights Watch researchers work to uncover human rights violations by investigating sites of abuse and speaking first-hand with witnesses and authorities. By exposing these abuses and shining a spotlight where they occur, Human Rights Watch's work gives a voice to victims, generates intense international pressure on governments for action and raises the cost to perpetrators of committing abuses. Human Rights Watch pursues perpetrators of abuses until they are brought to justice.

The London Eye lit blue for Human Rights Day 2018. ©

MEET THE LONDON TEAM

UK Advocacy and Media
The UK advocacy and communications team are responsible for conducting targeted advocacy towards the UK government and parliamentarians. They are also in charge of the organisation’s outreach to the UK media.

Yasmine Ahmed, UK Director
Emilie McDonnell, Officer

Anthony Gale, Senior Media Officer galea@hrw.org

Development & Outreach
The Development & Outreach team is the key contact for the London Committee. The team is responsible for organising fundraising and outreach events. They are the focal point for liaising with supporters, the London Committee and the Board of Directors.

Angela Sharma, UK Senior Director
Jessica Jones, UK Manager
Marie Conmee, UK Coordinator

Staff members based in London

Benjamin Ward, Deputy Director, Europe and Central Asia Division
Clive Baldwin, Senior Legal Advisor
Elin Martinez, Children’s Rights Researcher
Bridget Sleap, Senior Researcher, Rights of Older People
Anna Bacciarelli, Program Manager, Technology and Human Rights Division
Fereshta Abbasi, Researcher, Asia Division
Hellen Huang, Associate, Environment and Human Rights Division

OUR LONDON COMMITTEE

The London Committee is comprised of active, long term supporters of Human Rights Watch living in and around London. It forms part of the Human Rights Watch Council, an international network of Committees and Ambassadors who advance the efforts of Human Rights Watch by organising conferences, briefings and other events, engaging in targeted advocacy initiatives, and assisting in important development and outreach programs.

CONTACT US

E-mail londonoutreach@hrw.org to sign up for London news and/or events (please put 'News' or 'Events' in the subject line) or for any queries about fundraising or donations. To volunteer at one of our events, please put 'Volunteering' in the subject line. Do note, we do not accept employment or internship requests. Vacancies can be found on the HRW Career Portal.

If you are a member of the press with a media query, please contact HRW Press at hrwpress@hrw.org

GET INVOLVED

Help share our advocacy campaigns visiting HRW.org
Follow us on Twitter @hrw, Facebook and Instagram
Spread the word about our events and invite your friends
Donate here to support our research and advocacy work

News

August 23, 2018

COMING SOON: Royal Parks Half Marathon 2018
The Human Rights Watch team is once again involved in one of the most scenic city runs in the world for the Royal Park's Half Marathon on Sunday 14 October 2018. The stunning 13.1 mile route meanders through four of the eight iconic Royal Parks: Hyde Park - The Green Park - St. James’s Park - Kensington Gardens

The team is running to push for global recognition of the right to a healthy environment and to fundraise for the Environment and Human Rights Division.

GET INVOLVED

Volunteer to be part of our cheering squad on the day by contacting Lauriane Wolfe at wolfel@hrw.org

Donate to support the work of our Environment and Human Rights Division

Read our latest reports, dispatches and news releases on environment and human rights issues

Join our runner team next year by reaching out to Lauriane Wolfe at wolfel@hrw.org

Join us and become part of the global community dedicated to protecting and defending human rights and the right to a healthy environment!
August 23, 2018

12 DAYS Film Screening

The film was followed by an entertaining panel Q&A and hosted at Norton Rose Fulbright on Thursday 24 May 2018.

12 Days, by renowned filmmaker and photographer Raymond Depardon, explores the legal mental health system in France.

Every year in France, 92,000 people are placed under psychiatric care without their consent. By law, the hospital has 12 days to bring each patient before a judge. Based on medical records and a doctor’s recommendations, a crucial decision has to be made – will the patient stay or leave? 12 days after which lives can change forever. Granted access to these hearings for the first time, celebrated filmmaker/photographer Raymond Depardon captures these extraordinary encounters between justice and psychiatry. Astonishing, enlightening – a film that gives a voice to those who have previously been voiceless.

We were joined by our Senior Legal Advisor, Clive Baldwin, as well as two external mental health experts, Dr. Jed Boardman, Psychiatrist and Senior Lecturer and Aswini Weereratne QC, Barrister, Expert in human rights, mental health and capacity law. The film was screened during our 2018 Human Rights Watch London Film Festival and was being shown in support of the Mental Health Awareness week (14-20 May 2018).
August 22, 2018

THE WORKER'S CUP Film Screening

Human Rights Watch launched two editions of The Worker's Cup film screening in the United Kingdom: hosted at HOME Cinema in Manchester on Wednesday 20 June 2018 and at Norton Rose Fulbright in London on Thursday 12 July 2018.

Previously screened at our 2018 Human Rights Watch London Film Festival, this film follows one group of men from among the 1.6 million migrant workers preparing for the world's largest sporting event, the World Cup. With unprecedented access to FIFA's 2022 World Cup stadium controversial construction sites and labour camps in Qatar, the men enthusiastically train to compete in a football tournament of their own: The Workers Cup. Exposing long work hours for scant salaries, limited freedom of movement, and harsh living conditions in isolated labour camps, this documentary explores universal themes of ambition, aspiration, sport, and masculinity, as the protagonists wrangle hope, meaning, and opportunity out of their extremely precarious circumstances. Official Selection, Sundance Film Festival 2017

Our panels consisted of Rosie Garthwaite, Producer of The Workers Cup, Nooruddean Choudry, Creative Director and Senior Writer at Joe.co.uk, Mark Lobel, Freelance Political and News Correspondent, BBC News and Stephanie Hancock, Senior Media Officer at Human Rights Watch.
August 22, 2018

London Board Reception

ON THE MOVE: CAN HUMAN RIGHTS ADDRESS THE GLOBAL REFUGEE AND DISPLACEMENT CRISIS?

The London Board Reception gathered our closest Committee and Board members to discuss about the global refugee and displacement crisis at the Ham Yard Hotel on Monday 12th of February.

The mass movement of people in the world today is one of the biggest human rights crises of our time. The scale of this global refugee crisis is unprecedented, but too often, the world’s response has been shamefully inadequate.

Human Rights Watch is playing a critical and unique role in responding to the global refugee crisis. We are working to expose and overturn the human rights abuses that force people to flee. We are pressuring and persuading host countries to fulfil their legal and moral obligations to treat the desperate and vulnerable arrivals with dignity, to assess their refugee claims fairly, and not to return them to countries where they would suffer further abuse or persecution.

We weere pleased to be joined that evening by Executive Director Kenneth Roth, Women's Rights Researcher Skye Wheeler, Western Europe Researcher Eva Cossé and Emergencies Researcher Jonathan Pedneault for a captivating panel that lead to a Q&A.
August 17, 2018

Film Festival Benefit 2018

FILM FESTIVAL BENEFIT 2018

The London Premiere of THIS IS CONGO took place at our Film Festival Benefit on Wednesday 7 March 2018 at the Royal Institute of British Architects to celebrate the power of film to raise awareness of human rights issues and the power of personal stories to galvanise action around the world.

In THIS IS CONGO, a whiste-blower, a patriotic military commander, a mineral dealer and a displaced tailor offer their perspectives on the problems that plague the Democratic Republic of Congo today. THIS IS CONGO provides a beautifully immersive and unfiltered look into the lives of four characters who exemplify a unique resilience while living through Africa’s longest continuing conflict.

The Film Festival Benefit marked the start of the 2018 Human Rights Watch London Film Festival which ran from 7-16 March in several venues throughout London.

Stay tuned for our 2019 Film Festival Benefit.
April 4, 2017

"Black Code" screening in Manchester, May 10, 2017

Manchester Film Screening

From 6.15pm, Wednesday 10th May 2017

HOME Cinema, Manchester M15 4FN

The screening will be followed by a panel discussion chaired by Nick McGeehan, Middle East researcher at Human Rights Watch.

Based on Ronald Deibert’s book of the same name, Nicholas de Pencier’s gripping Black Code follows “internet sleuths” - or cyber stewards - from the Toronto-based group Citizen Lab, who travel the world to expose unprecedented levels of global digital espionage. The film reveals exiled Tibetan monks attempting to circumvent China’s surveillance apparatus; Syrian citizens tortured for Facebook posts; Brazilian activists who use social media to livestream police abuses; and Pakistani opponents of online violence campaigns against women. As this battle for control of cyberspace is waged, our ideas of citizenship, privacy, and democracy are challenged to the very core.

Filmmaker: Nicholas de Pencier
Year: 2016
88m
Language(s): English
Genre: Documentary
Film Website: Black Code film website

More information on panellists and how to purchase tickets coming soon.