Our impact
Reprieve fights for people facing torture, unlawful detention and the death penalty.
and uses every victory to challenge the systems that enable these abuses.
Small charity, big impact
25 years of taking on the toughest human rights cases has made Reprieve one of the most effective human rights organisations in the world. Alongside expert partners, we have built the legal, investigative and campaigning expertise to hold governments to account.
We are pragmatic and strategic. When governments are on the road to reform, we partner with the officials, lawyers, and advocates seeking positive change. When governments continue to execute, torture, and illegally detain, we fight back.
For 25 years, Reprieve has stood up to the state for people’s rights. In this time of rising authoritarianism, we defend the single principle: everyone deserves justice, no matter who they are or what are accused of – because liberty is eroded at the margins.
None of this work would be possible without the dedication and support of the community that powers it. Thank you.
Together we have
600
Stopped more than 600 executions
80
We have secured freedom for over 80 men from Guantánamo
1200
Secured access to justice for more than 1,200 people denied their right to a fair trial
100
Assisted more than 100 people indefinitely detained in North East Syria
Your impact around the world
Your impact in action
Keeping medicines out of executions
The drugs used in US executions were designed for hospitals — not death chambers. In 2011, Reprieve discovered that states were buying drugs for use in executions from a wholesaler operating out of the back room of a West London driving school. Our work, supported by the wider healthcare sector, led to governments imposing export controls across the UK and Europe.
We continue to work with pharmaceutical companies, helping them protect their medicines from being diverted for executions. Today, multiple states have stopped executing people because of lethal injection drug issues – and for some, that pause has opened the door to total abolition.
Emptying death row one country at a time
Stopping the decriminalisation of Torture
In 2021, we helped secure critical amendments to the Overseas Operations Bill, preventing the de facto decriminalisation of torture and other serious crimes committed by British soldiers.
Looking Ahead
With attacks on human rights on the rise around the world, Reprieve’s work is more urgent than ever. Thanks to people like you, we have been standing up for human rights for 25 years across four continents. Authoritarians have a playbook – but so do we.
