Why are we changing our name?

Prisoners of Conscience has become Human Rights Protection Fund. Find out more below:

After careful consideration and consultation over several years, we are pleased to announce that our charity has changed its name to Human Rights Protection Fund.

This decision follows extensive feedback from supporters, grant recipients, referral agencies and long-time donors. We are grateful to all who shared their thoughts. The overwhelming response was that our support for human rights defenders had now grown far beyond simply helping those currently imprisoned. Against this background, respondents thought that the name ‘Prisoners of Conscience’ did not reflect the broader scope of our work and may have hindered public recognition of the full range of assistance we offer.

Our former name, Prisoners of Conscience, served us well for many years. However, research and feedback over the last four years have shown that the terms “prisoners” and “conscience” are increasingly misunderstood or outdated in today’s human rights context. A few years ago, we commissioned external expertise to conduct focus group research into our name. The below comment by a participant reflects the research findings:

“When I first saw the name, I found it difficult to figure out what PoC does as the name is confusing — is it for prisoners? And ‘conscience’ is not an obvious clue – old-fashioned name perhaps that has little ready meaning for the public.”

Of note, many of the people whom we support have never been imprisoned but have instead faced grave threats, harassment, torture or forced exile due to their human rights work. When we speak to people who have never heard of our charity and mention the name – Prisoners of Conscience – we often have to explain that we do not support criminals who have been in prison.  The word “conscience” is now, sadly, considered fairly old-fashioned and does not resonate with our younger supporters and potential new supporters.

What’s Staying the Same

Please be assured that our work, core values and charitable purposes will remain entirely unaffected.

Only our name and logo are evolving to better reflect who we are and the work we do.

We officially registered the new name with the Charity Commission at the end of September 2025.

About the new logo

In 2022, we retired our previous logo, which depicted a kneeling figure — a symbol that no longer resonated with the empowered and brave people whom we support. Our new logo has been developed by a graphic design volunteer after reviewing branding across the international human rights NGO sector. We hope you find it both compelling and suitable.

We welcome your thoughts, so please feel free to contact us at info@prisonersofconscience.org or by calling 02074076644.