International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights

Established in 1982, INTERIGHTS is an international legal human rights NGO based in London. We provide leadership and support in the legal protection of human rights. They work to ensure that human rights standards are protected and promoted effectively in domestic courts and before regional and international bodies, contributing to the development of a cumulative and progressive interpretation of international human rights law. Their work focuses on strategic human rights litigation, building the capacity of lawyers and judges and the dissemination of practical legal information. They source cases that will develop understanding of what human rights norms entail and that have a wider relevance beyond the parties in a particular case. They measure their effectiveness not so much by the volume of litigation that we undertake, or even the number of cases that are eventually ‘won’, as by the impact on the lives of clients, other victims beyond those involved in the case and the potential to improve standards and protections in areas where the law is weak. This requires careful selection of cases, in close collaboration with their partners. They have developed criteria to guide their selection of strategically significant cases. In order to ensure the wider impact and make best use of resources, they seek cases that are either symptomatic of widespread human rights violations or which address gaps in protections before a particular human rights system. Often these overlap. They rarely litigate without the direct involvement of their partners and are extremely dependent on the strength of their regional partnerships for the quality and effectiveness of their cases.