Justice UK

We pursue legal claims for survivors and the prosecution of perpetrators

A core element of REDRESS’s work is bringing legal clailms to secure justice and promote the rights of survivors, both in the UK and globally.

Legal claims for reparations  

We provide direct representation to UK-based clients (and their families) who are seeking reparations for torture and ill-treatment suffered in different countries around the world. Those cases are being pursued in regional human rights bodies or through the UN. In addition, we offer support to a few clients in domestic legal processes.  

More information about our cases can be found on our Database of cases.  

We combine our casework with other civil society techniques such as advocacy, media, and activism to ensure there is implementation after the judgment, a community behind the client, and a cause beyond the case.  

We accompany survivors through the legal process and ensure they can access the medical and psychological services they require.  

Prosecutions

We work with the Metropolitan Police and the Crown Prosecution Service to support investigation and prosecutions for the criminal offence of torture, on the basis of universal jurisdiction.

UK complicity in torture  

We work to ensure that the international prohibition against torture is maintained by the UK government, and that the UK is held to account for any involvement in torture and ill-treatment, wherever that may occur. This includes working on legal cases seeking redress for the UK’s complicity in torture.  

Consular protection  

We support various clients (and their families) who have faced challenges in accessing appropriate protection from the UK Government, and we have a long history of engaging with the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) on these issues.

We continue to undertake research and analysis on the drawbacks of the present discretionary system, and continue to seek ways of ensuring that protection is available for British nationals who have suffered (or are at risk of) torture and ill-treatment in detention overseas.  

Communities and survivors 

 As part of our survivor-centred approach, REDRESS has been facilitating a network of UK-based survivors of torture since 2022. The network is known as the Survivor Advisory Group. The main priorities of the Survivor Advisory Group are protecting the absolute prohibition of torture and putting survivors’ voices at the centre of domestic legislative and policy proposals. The Survivor Advisory Group has developed the Survivors of Torture Manifesto, a call to action, which states their recommendations to the UK government on how to remove the main barriers survivors face when attempting to seek justice, including accountability, rehabilitation, asylum, and immigration. This builds upon our research report, Whose Justice? Reflections from UK-based survivors of torture, which highlights the views of torture survivors on what ‘justice’ means to them and informs the support provided to survivors through the legal process. We are also working jointly with Freedom from Torture on a project to promote access to justice for survivors, improve the quality of legal advice available to them (including in relation to accountability and reparations for torture), and to provide support for survivors’ own advocacy efforts. We are open to growing our networks and continue engaging with survivor-led groups in the UK to support their accountability and advocacy efforts.   

Policy advocacy  

We advocate in the UK to improve protection for UK citizens detained abroad, to maintain the absolute ban against torture in UK law, and to pursue accountability for human rights violations by bringing cases against perpetrators living in the UK. Recent examples of our work include:  

  • the campaign against the provisions of the Overseas Operations Bill (that would have provided an effective amnesty when British troops commit torture and other international crimes),  
  • raising concerns about elements of the National Security Bill (that would dilute the ban against torture in UK law),  
  • stressing the likelihood that the UK will breach its international legal commitments regarding torture as a result of the Illegal Migration Bill, and  
  • the coordination of the civil society response to the UN Committee against Torture’s review of the UK. 
Human rights sanctions 

We submit requests to the Sanctions Team of the FCDO for the UK to impose “Magnitsky” sanctions on those responsible for torture, co-ordinating with the US and EU regimes for sanctions. We also act as Secretariat for the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on Magnitsky sanctions, which seeks to raise the profile of the UK regime and ensure effective use of sanctions.