Humans for Rights Network
Humans for Rights Network is a UK non-profit founded in 2017 that provides casework, advocacy, and litigation for unaccompanied refugee children, criminalised children, and asylum seekers in the UK and Northern France, supported by donations and pro-bono volunteers.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2017
- HeadquartersUK (operational), United Kingdom
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
What Humans for Rights Network does
Humans for Rights Network (HfRN) is a UK-registered non-profit human rights organisation established in 2017 and operating from Bristol, UK, with cross-border work in Northern France. It conducts direct, non-extractive investigative casework, evidence gathering, advocacy, campaigning, and litigation on behalf of people forced to migrate — primarily unaccompanied refugee children facing wrongful age assessment, children criminalised under the Nationality and Borders Act, survivors of cross-border violence at the UK-France border, and asylum seekers in settings such as RAF Wethersfield. The organisation is led and informed by displaced people with lived experience of hostile border regimes, and operates through a horizontal leadership model with a small core team of 7 and a broader volunteer network of lawyers, clinicians, journalists, photographers and fundraisers.
HfRN's service delivery is centred on individual casework, safeguarding referrals, age dispute support, legal advocacy, and the publication of investigative reports (e.g., 'Forced Adulthood', 'No Such Thing as Justice Here', 'Ghettoised and Traumatised', 'Lost Childhoods') produced in collaboration with academic and NGO partners such as the Oxford Centre for Criminology, Border Criminologies, the Helen Bamber Foundation, and the Refugee Council. The organisation is developing a multilingual digital documentation system for ethical testimony recording by witnesses and victims of human rights violations, alongside training in testimony-taking and witnessing ethics. There is no commercial product, no AI/ML capability, and no API or technology platform in production.
HfRN is funded entirely through public donations via platforms such as Chuffed.org and JustGiving, supplemented by pro-bono professional contributions. It does not charge for its services, has no disclosed revenue, has no funding rounds, is not venture-backed, and has no parent company. Its go-to-market is community-led: identifying affected individuals through outreach, responding to immediate harm, and leveraging earned media and campaign platforms (e.g., 38 Degrees) to drive collective accountability and policy change.
Humans for Rights Network firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Humans for Rights Network
- Legal name
- HFRN Ltd
- Website
- https://humansforrights.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2017
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Humans for Rights Network is a UK non-profit founded in 2017 that provides casework, advocacy, and litigation for unaccompanied refugee children, criminalised children, and asylum seekers in the UK and Northern France, supported by donations and pro-bono volunteers.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Humans for Rights Network industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Refugee and migrant rights advocacy
- NAICS
- Human Rights Organizations (813311), Other Individual and Family Services (624190)
- SIC
- Services-Social Services (8300)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Human Rights & Anti-Discrimination Organizations (BPAGAFAB)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Human Rights Monitoring, Documentation & Advocacy (BPADAGAK), Child Rights & Protection (BPADAGAG), Protection Services (GBV, Child Protection, Safeguarding) (BPADAHAF)
Keywords
Where Humans for Rights Network is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- UK (operational)
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices2 records
Markets served
Humans for Rights Network business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D
Revenue model
- Donations: The organization relies on public donations through platforms like Chuffed.org and JustGiving to fund operations and advocacy work.
- Volunteer Contributions: Pro-bono contributions from lawyers, journalists, photographers, fundraisers, and other professionals who donate their expertise.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels6 records
Humans for Rights Network product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Humans for Rights Network provides direct non-extractive investigative casework responding to immediate harm caused to people forced to migrate, gathering evidence rooted in lived experience of hostile border policies to force accountability and justice. The organisation advocates, campaigns, and litigates to secure access to justice both individually and collectively, while strategically collaborating with legal, civil society, and community partners across the UK and Northern Europe. It also delivers training in testimony taking and the ethics of witnessing, and is developing a multilingual digital documentation system for recording victim and witness testimony.
Product overview
Humans for Rights Network (HfRN) is a need-led human rights organisation rather than a technology product company. Its services include direct non-extractive investigative casework responding to immediate harm, evidence gathering rooted in lived experience, strategic collaboration with legal and civil society partners across the UK and Northern Europe, and advocacy, campaigning and litigation for access to justice. The organisation is developing a digital documentation system for use by witnesses and victims of human rights violations, which would allow individuals or organisations to accurately and ethically record testimony. HfRN also provides training in testimony taking, documenting using film and photography, and the ethics of witnessing human rights violations. Core project areas include work with unaccompanied refugee children on age assessment issues, criminalisation of refugee children, cross-border violence documentation at the UK-France border, the Asylum Seeker Memorial Project, and support for those suffering from a range of grave human rights abuses within the UK asylum and protection system.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Age Dispute Casework and Safeguarding Support Direct non-extractive investigative casework for unaccompanied refugee children wrongly age-assessed as adults by the Home Office and placed in adult accommodation, with safeguarding intervention and advocacy for transfer into child protective settings.
- Criminal Defense Support for Children Casework and advocacy for refugee children charged with immigration offences under the Nationality and Borders Act, supporting age acceptance and release from adult prisons in partnership with organisations such as Captain Support UK and Refugee Legal Support.
Quantifiable outcome
- 3000+ children assisted into child protective environments
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Humans for Rights Network
Customer profileNamed customers5 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Humans for Rights Network technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature1 record
Humans for Rights Network partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- Project PlaycoreJoint partnership on Stop Border Violence campaign, including joint reporting on impact of border violence on children. Published joint statements on Channel deaths and Rwanda judgement.
- Centre for Criminology at the University of OxfordcoreCollaboration on research report 'No Such Thing as Justice Here' documenting criminalisation of people arriving on small boats. Joint research with Border Criminologies.
- Border CriminologiescoreAcademic partnership for research on border enforcement and criminalisation of migrants.
- Captain Support UKcoreCollaboration on casework with people arrested for 'illegal arrival', helping them access legal advice and release from prison.
- Refugee Legal SupportcoreCollaboration on research and casework regarding criminalisation of small boat arrivals.
- Refugee CouncilcoreJoint report 'Forced Adulthood' on age disputes. Refugee Council's Age Dispute Project assisted 185 children who had initially been determined to be adults.
- Helen Bamber FoundationcoreMultiple joint reports including 'Forced Adulthood', 'Disbelieved and Denied', 'Ghettoised and Traumatised', and 'At What Cost?'. HBF clinicians conduct assessments of those harmed by asylum policies.
- Asylum Seeker Memorial ProjectcoreProject bearing witness to stories of those who died while in UK asylum system since 2016, investigating circumstances of deaths.
- Refugee and Migrant Children's Consortium (RMCC)coreCoalition of over 100 organisations co-chaired by Helen Bamber Foundation. HfRN contributed to 'Lost Childhoods' report on flawed age assessments.
- Legal, civil society and community partners across UK and Northern EuropecoreStrategic collaboration to share learning, develop training, and collectively gather and analyse evidence of systemic harm caused by hostile border regimes.
Scale indicators10 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Humans for Rights Network competitors and assessment
Company assessmentEmerging players
- Border Criminologies (University of Oxford): Oxford-based research network on border control and criminalisation; academic partner to HfRN on 'No Such Thing as Justice Here' and adjacent research outputs in the same thematic space.
Direct peers
- Helen Bamber Foundation (now Helen Bamber): UK human rights charity supporting survivors of trafficking and torture; co-co-chairs the Refugee and Migrant Children's Consortium with HfRN and contributes clinical assessments to joint reports like 'Forced Adulthood' and 'At What Cost?'.
- Refugee Council: One of the largest UK refugee support NGOs; co-published 'Forced Adulthood' with HfRN and operates the Age Dispute Project that has assisted 185 children, making it the most direct peer in age dispute casework.
- Medical Justice: UK charity documenting and challenging medical neglect of people in immigration detention; overlaps with HfRN's evidence-gathering and advocacy work on asylum detention conditions including Wethersfield and Napier Barracks.
- Asylum Aid: UK charity providing legal representation and policy advocacy on asylum, particularly for women and children; comparable beneficiary mix and litigation-driven impact model.
- Detention Action: UK charity focused on immigration detention monitoring and visiting; operates in a directly adjacent advocacy and casework space to HfRN's work on asylum accommodation conditions and rights documentation.
- Bail for Immigration Detainees (BID): UK charity providing legal representation to detainees, including children in immigration detention; comparable legal aid and casework model to HfRN's criminalised-children advocacy.
- Project Play: UK charity supporting refugee children through play and advocacy; co-partner with HfRN on the Stop Border Violence campaign, with overlapping child refugee casework focus.
- Refugee Legal Support: UK charity providing legal representation to asylum seekers; partner with HfRN on research and casework regarding criminalisation of small boat arrivals, operating in the same legal advocacy niche.
- Captain Support UK: Volunteer-led UK organization supporting people arrested for 'illegal arrival'; collaborates directly with HfRN on casework for criminalised asylum seekers, sharing the volunteer-driven casework model.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Humans for Rights Network social profiles
Digital presenceHumans for Rights Network financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Humans for Rights Network leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Humans for Rights Network funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
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Humans for Rights Network M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Humans for Rights Network
What does Humans for Rights Network do?
Humans for Rights Network provides direct non-extractive investigative casework responding to immediate harm caused to people forced to migrate, gathering evidence rooted in lived experience of hostile border policies to force accountability and justice. The organisation advocates, campaigns, and litigates to secure access to justice both individually and collectively, while strategically collaborating with legal, civil society, and community partners across the UK and Northern Europe. It also delivers training in testimony taking and the ethics of witnessing, and is developing a multilingual digital documentation system for recording victim and witness testimony.
Is Humans for Rights Network a public or private company?
Humans for Rights Network is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Humans for Rights Network founded?
Humans for Rights Network was founded in 2017. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Humans for Rights Network based?
Humans for Rights Network is headquartered in UK (operational), United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does Humans for Rights Network make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Donations are the primary driver. The others are volunteer Contributions.
Who are Humans for Rights Network's main competitors?
Border Criminologies (University of Oxford) is listed as an emerging player. Direct peers are Helen Bamber Foundation (now Helen Bamber), Refugee Council, Medical Justice, Asylum Aid, Detention Action, Bail for Immigration Detainees (BID), Project Play, Refugee Legal Support and Captain Support UK.
Does Humans for Rights Network have an API?
No public API is recorded for Humans for Rights Network.
What industry is Humans for Rights Network in?
Humans for Rights Network's product category is Refugee and migrant rights advocacy. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAGAFAB, Human Rights & Anti-Discrimination Organizations, with a secondary code of BPADAGAK, Human Rights Monitoring, Documentation & Advocacy. Its NAICS code is 813311 and its SIC code is 8300.