Much of our work is focused on China and working with Chinese partners. This reflects our history as an organisation and the expertise and experience of staff and many of our Trustees.

As a large economy and global power, China's views on human rights have an impact well beyond its borders. Although the Chinese Communist Party has adopted an increasingly critical stance in recent years towards the universality of human rights, our experience reveals a more complex and encouraging picture. We find huge interest in human rights among the lawyers, NGOs and legal scholars with whom we work. Equally, we observe frustration with the restrictions on freedom of expression and association that would allow these ideas and better practice to be promoted in China.

As part of our work to help partners put human rights into practice, we have encouraged professional exchanges with many Asian countries (the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar and South Korea) and within Europe. We have also carried out consulting assignments for projects in Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan.