Human Dignity Trust is given charitable status

The Human Dignity Trust (HDT)’s first application to the Charity Commission was rejected in June 2012 and that rejection was upheld in October 2013 on the basis that, while promoting human rights is a charitable purpose, changing the law was not.

In June 2014 the charity tribunal overturned the Charity Commission’s decision and rejected the argument that HDT’s purposes were “unclear or ambiguous“, as well as rejecting the Charity Commission’s narrower interpretation of the meaning of human rights. The tribunal held that HDT was established for the purposes of protecting and promoting human rights and the sound administration of the law, which are exclusively charitable under the Charities Act 2011. However, the tribunal limited the case to its facts and stated that: “as a matter of law this decision is confined to its own facts and does not establish a legal precedent for the registration of other prospective charities“.