What we do

Relief Grants

Grant recipient in Zimbabwe 

We are the only agency in the UK making grants specifically to individual prisoners of conscience both in exile in the UK and overseas.

We co-operate with over 50 different referral agencies such as human rights organisations, refugee groups, community organisations, colleges or solicitors to distribute relief funds to beneficiaries.

Our grants are modest - up to £350 per person - and cover life-sustaining items such as food, clothing, furniture, non-prescription drugs etc. Other grants cover medical treatment, travel costs, family reunion costs, education, counselling and rehabilitation for torture survivors, requalification costs and resettlement costs.

To read the stories of some of our relief grant recipients please click here.

Bursaries Fund

Bursary grant recipients  

Through two main partnerships, one of which with the Council for Assisting Refugee Academics, we are able to allocate funds to help eligible individuals with larger educational grants specifically for post-graduate and professional conversion courses. Since the inception of the scheme, 118 former prisoners of conscience have received a total in excess of £450,000.

The average grant of approximately £3,800 is much larger than those which we can normally manage for relieving poverty, but initially we were able to fund them with the help of a generous legacy. Since then several large donations from charitable trusts and a one-off grant from the Home Office Challenge Fund have enabled us to continue the programme.  

To read about one of our bursary grant recipients please click here.

To donate to our Bursaries Fund please click here