2025 was a challenging year not just for Human Rights at Sea, but for the wider rights' holder and fundamental rights' movement.
Sustained breaches of international law, policy and diplomatic norms at state-level is becoming the new 'normal' in an increasingly unstable and dangerous world.
This means we must adapt our work and approach while noting that our outputs are needed but not always wanted nor our messaging welcomed for speaking truth.
Importantly, 2025 saw the evolution of our organisation through a change in core governance moving away from a UK registered charity model to a non-profit Community Interest Company enterprise specifically created to invest available funds into maritime social, political and welfare issues.
This change has enabled us to maintain our standing and reinforce our global network by flexibly moving between overt advocacy to quiet diplomacy supported by fact-based investigations.
Sustainability is at the heart of every organisation. As we have previously found to our cost without assured, independent and non-restricted funding that does not include external influencing, the end-result is invariably terminal. This notes the number of UK charities that have closed this past year due to lack of funds and support.
Nevertheless, we have a new business model that enables us to assure our much-needed philanthropic work continues uninterrupted for those who need it.
Most important has been maintenance of our independence for thought-leadership, innovation and initiatives focused on bettering human rights' protections for those persons living, working and transiting by sea as well as maintaining human rights' awareness throughout global supply chains.
2026 will be even more challenging as we move focus towards preparations for maritime and land conflict not just in Europe and the Baltics, but more widely.
To hide from this fact would be irresponsible and blinkered. We will therefore continue with our difficult research, advocacy and investigation work in the same way that we did when starting out on this difficult journey in 2013.
Our look forward is the 'Road to War' alongside the hard truths that human rights is under its greatest threat in a generation and what must be done to ensure the survival of democracy and the international rules-based order.
Our Vision is simple. We want an end to human rights abuses at sea.
ENDS.
Source: Human Rights at Sea 2026.
AI. AI was not used in the drafting of this article.
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