A seafarer rights charity has announced that it has closed after facing funding challenges.
In a statement published this week, the trustees of Human Rights at Sea (HRAS) said the charity had failed to secure a sustainable funding and operating model.
The charity was founded in 2014 by David Hammond, who stepped down as its chief executive in December 2023.
Hammond will be leading work to ensure that the charity’s website is preserved following the closure and remains freely accessible through its trading subsidiary, HRAS International.
According to the Charity Commission website, HRAS employed four members of staff and recorded an income of £421,000 in the year to November 2023.
It recorded financial deficits for three consecutive years from 2020-21.
Decision made in September
According to its most recently filed accounts, the charity’s trustees resolved to wind up the charity in September 2024.
The accounts read: “The trustees expect the charity to be wound up in an orderly manner with all liabilities settled.
“Any remaining funds will be distributed in accordance with the charity’s governing document.”
HRAS issued over 100 publications, according to the statement from trustees, helped support policy and legal changes for protections at sea in over 50 countries, and participated in three EU-funded programmes.
It formulated the Geneva Declaration on Human Rights at Sea in 2019 and produced the first civil society code of conduct for the rescue of migrants in the Mediterranean.
The charity also put together the first state-level conference on Human Rights at Sea in Mumbi in 2019 and achieved UN Economic and Social Council status as a recognised NGO in 2022.
“The trustees would like to thank the supporters, funders, advisers, staff and partners who have supported the charity’s work over the past 10 years, and especially David whose vision, energy and drive have done so much to establish and advance the cause of human rights at sea,” the charity’s statement reads.
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