Today, EachOther and the Department of Law at Goldsmiths, University of London, have announced a new partnership which is set to bolster the ground-breaking work of both organisations.
Goldsmiths will host EachOther in a collaboration that stands to benefit the charity, Goldsmiths students (and students in other parts of the UK) and the cause of human rights in the UK, which is facing ever-increasing threats.
The new agreement will see Goldsmiths students contributing to the award winning charities’ work – which uses storytelling, filmmaking, and independent journalism to put the human into human rights. Students will gain valuable experience through using EachOther’s profile and platform with the charity revisiting its beginnings when, as RightsInfo, it worked closely with students and lawyers to produce content aimed at raising levels of public understanding and support for human rights in the UK.
While retaining its independence the charity will offer opportunities for students to contribute material for EachOther under the supervision of its independent editorial guidance.
As EachOther embarks on this next phase of its evolution, we will strive to find the right mix of continuity and change. Staying on is Emma Guy, who for the past year and a half has been EachOther’s Editor. But we bid a very fond farewell to Andy Hull, who has led the charity as its Chief Executive these past three years through the impacts of both Brexit and Covid-19. We wish Andy every possible success in what comes next.
The current funding climate for small human rights charities, amid a worsening cost of living crisis, is extremely challenging. Teaming up with a strategic partner, in Goldsmiths, with its wealth of experience and expertise in Law (but also Media, Politics, Sociology, the social sciences and humanities more generally) offers EachOther the stability it needs to keep making a difference in the period ahead.
Professor Dimitrios Giannoulopoulos, Head of Law at Goldsmiths said:
“By bringing together the best of EachOther and Goldsmiths, we can expand the resources available for EachOther’s vital work, and, at the same time, give our students invaluable hands-on experience of public communications on human rights. Raising awareness about the risks of legal isolationism, the dismantling of fundamental structures of our liberal democracy and, ultimately, the pernicious ‘othering’ of those vulnerable communities most in need of protection, human rights awareness work could not be more urgently needed.”
EachOther brings to the partnership an unrivalled multimedia archive designed to inform and inspire people about their rights. Half a million people visit its website each year, with its social media followers at 100,000 and its YouTube videos receiving over a million views the charity’s work has been an important component in building a rights culture in UK with almost one in ten visitors to EachOther’s site saying their content had changed their mind on a human rights issue.
Professor Giannoulpoulos continued: “Through this partnership we’re safeguarding a charity that is greatly respected for creative approaches that connect with ordinary people and have brought rights down to a human level. But the partnership will also help prepare future lawyers to communicate their ideas and research more adeptly through digital technologies.”
Launched in 2019, Goldsmiths’ Department of Law is already widely recognised as a centre of excellence that aims to reconceptualise legal education, encompassing immersive and experiential learning as well as engaging with key social issues.
The Law Department has itself invested energy in disseminating research and knowledge on human rights, including through its Knowing Our Rights initiative, with an emphasis on young people in secondary schools in London and other parts of the UK. Its faculty includes some of the most prominent human rights thinkers and legal practitioners in the country.
Adam Wagner, Founder and Chair of EachOther’s Board of Trustees, said: “Over the years EachOther’s biggest impact has been in education. Through this collaboration I’m looking forward to and am confident about redoubling our efforts and effect in this critical area.”
Wagner continued: “This partnership safeguards the charity’s future. It means EachOther will continue to stand up in creative and compelling ways for our rights, when, once again, they are under sustained attack, for example the recent high-profile calls for the UK to leave the European Convention of Human Rights.”
