We champion everyday human rights for the people of Peckham, London and beyond.
Peckham Rights! is a non-profit organisation that promotes human rights for marginalised communities through locally-based research, consultancy, education, and community development initiatives throughout Peckham, London and beyond. We believe that promoting human rights is a positive, effective, and often underutilised way of combatting racial and other inequalities. When the work of Peckham Rights! is successful, all individuals will know their human rights and the importance of advocating for their rights for empowerment, strengthened accountability, and realised social justice.
Our work grew from and is closely linked to the United Nations Human Rights International Decade for People of African Descent (IDPAD) and promotes local rights through the IDPAD’s three pillars of recognition, justice, and development.
We work with individuals and community organisations both directly to support and build capacity and to facilitate access to the UN. Through our community research, we identify and provide evidence for the many human rights issues present within Peckham. We help those who are working to address these issues to build capacity through research, community development, consultancy, and training. We work with and connect other local organisations to amplify specific initiatives, or collaborate in larger projects or campaigns relevant to our community.
Peckham Rights! has links to the UN’s Special Rapporteurs, Working Groups of Experts, and the Universal Periodic Review of the UK—mechanisms that raise awareness of local issues to an international audience, provide expertise, and bring international accountability to relevant national authorities. The human rights apparatuses within the UN are gravely underutilised at the local level. Our work has the strategic aim to raise local awareness, create new links to the UN, and make sure these links are maintained.