On 18th September 2015 the Medway Human Rights Network was launched as an initiative of the Human Rights Office.
On 27 September 2025 we will celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the Network with an event at the Sunlight Centre in Gillingham, Kent. Connected organisations will present their work, the anniversary report will be presented and there will be a group discussion on the right to health as well as human rights activities..
On 15 February 2025 several of the organisations connected to the Network took part in the Conference “The Rule of Law, Democracy and Human Rights – Magna Carta 800 Years”. During the day there were stalls from Amnesty International Kent Network, Kent Stand Up to Racism and the Sunlight Centre, alongside a stall of the Network and the Human Rights Office.
A public event of the Medway Human Rights Network took place at the Sunlight Centre in Gillingham on 15th September 2018, 10am-1pm, with the title “Get to know your own human rights better”. After an Introduction to Human Rights Law workshops were held discussing several examples of human rights cases in the UK.
In 2017 several of the connected organisations of the Medway Human Rights Network were involved in the Art, Wellbeing and Human Rights Project of the Human Rights Office.
On Saturday 12th November 2016 a public event was held at the Sunlight Centre in Gillingham, entitled Magna Carta 1216 and the Human Rights Act. There were talks and discussions about the importance of the re-issue of the Magna Carta on 12/11/1216 by William Marshal as Governor for King Henry III and the link with modern human rights issues, in particular the importance of the Human Rights Act. Also there was an appearance by the Knights of Medway.
On Saturday 18th June 2016 a Public Open Day of the Network was held at the Sunlight Centre in Gillingham. There were presentations by organisations connected to the Network and stalls with information about their work. Also there was a talk with discussion about the human rights side of the presented work.
The aims of the Network are:
- Getting to know more about the work done by organisations and people connected to the Network
- Creating a bigger network by bringing in the networks of the connected organisations and supporters
- Achieving more attention from the public for work related to human rights matters by presenting the Network as a combined group
- Work together to show people that it is in everybody’s interest that human rights are protected and realised in practice
- Presenting the Network as an umbrella organisation, while maintaining the independence of the connected organisations.
The organisations connected to the Network are:
1. Amnesty International Kent Network and Amnesty International Maidstone, Medway and Swale Group
2. Kent Stand Up to Racism
3. Medway TUC
4. Sunlight Development Trust
5. Medway Inter Faith Action
6. Physical Folk
7. Medway City of Sanctuary
8. Knights of Medway
9. Medway Youth Council
10.Medway Speakers’ Corner
11. PowerHouse
12. Rochester Film Society
13. Friends of Amnesty International Medway (no longer active) 14. News in Medway/Combat Stress/Help for Heroes/Royal British Legion (no longer active)
Below are summaries of the work of the connected organisations.
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL MAIDSTONE, MEDWAY AND SWALE GROUP AND AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL KENT NETWORK
Amnesty International is a grassroots organisation powered by volunteer activists throughout the world. We work to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied. We investigate and expose abuses, educate and mobilise the public and help transform societies to create a safer, more just world. In the Medway Towns we are represented by the Maidstone, Medway and Swale Local Group. To join us e-mail mmands.amnestygroup@gmail.com. The Amnesty International Kent Network was launched in May 2020 and has the vision to have a presence in every Kent constituency while also working across constituencies. Supporting local groups and working together with like-minded organisations is among the aims of the network. The network wants to provide a means for any Amnesty supporter to become involved, whether or not they belong to a local Amnesty group. Monthly meetings are being held online and the monthly newsletter shows what people can do such as supporting online campaigns and signing petitions. For more information contact Graham Minter at graham.minter@amnesty.org.uk.
KENT STAND UP TO RACISM
Kent Stand Up to Racism is a branch of the national organisation Stand Up to Racism. As its name suggests, Kent Stand Up to Racism campaigns against racist, fascist and/or other extreme right wing views. We are currently organising counter demonstrations as much as possible. We are also trying to create a more permanent broad based anti-racism campaign in the Medway Towns and elsewhere in Kent. This includes support for refugees. Kent Stand Up to Racism has been involved in the Europe wide demonstrations for UN Anti-Racism Day in March. For more information contact medwaysutr@gmail.com.
MEDWAY TRADES UNION COUNCIL
Medway Trades Union Council is the body that brings together trade union branches across North Kent to coordinate support for local and national industrial disputes and to campaign on issues of mutual interest. Trade unions have to act collectively and we therefore have a keen interest in upholding human rights in general not just the rights of our immediate members. Consequently we participate in campaigns against racism, injustice and war as well as fighting for workers’ rights whether employed or unemployed. For more information contact medwaytuc@googlemail.com or visit the Facebook Page Medway Trade Union Council.
SUNLIGHT DEVELOPMENT TRUST
Sunlight Development Trust is a registered charity and development trust created to tackle health and social inequality through community development. The charity is based at the Sunlight Centre in North Gillingham and services both within Medway and outside of the area to: -manage the Sunlight Centre, providing affordable facilities and meeting space for local community members, community groups and service providers; -deliver support and services relating to health and wellbeing funded by grants and contracts; -support community development and promote social inclusion through activities, events and volunteering; -manage a digital recording studio and provide a sound engineering service; -deliver a community cafe, wellbeing cafe, dementia cafe, Men and Women in Sheds and a Safe Haven. For more information contact info@sunlighttrust.org.uk or go to the website www.sunlighttrust.org.uk.
MEDWAY INTER FAITH ACTION
The aims of Medway Inter Faith Action (MIFA) are: -To promote, organise and support Inter-Faith and Multi-Faith activities in the Medway area; -To promote cohesion and dialogue between the Faiths and Faith Communities in the Medway area; -To promote respect and understanding amongst all. MIFA holds monthly meetings on interfaith subjects. Examples are: religion and women’s rights; sustainability and climate change; freedom of religion; spiritual wellbeing. MIFA organises a yearly Walk for Peace, stopping at different places of worship and finishing with multicultural interfaith entertainment. The aim is to promote peace and harmony within the community of Medway. MIFA supports and contributes to various events, among them the Holocaust Memorial Day in January, the Workers’ Memorial Service in April, the Week of Prayer for World Peace in October and Inter Faith Week in November. For more information and how to join MIFA, go to the website www.medwayinterfaith.org.uk.
MEDWAY YOUTH COUNCIL
Medway Youth Council was launched as Medway Youth Parliament on 1st April 1999. Young people from the ages of 10 to 19 can become members. It is an independent organisation that provides a link between young people and adults who run services for young people in the Medway Towns.
The aim of the forum is to get the voices of young people heard and to make sure that young people are consulted on issues that concern them and around services that they use. Medway Youth Council runs campaigns around issues that are brought to the group and that affect young people; for example young people say there is a need for better careers advice.
There are committees within MYC that work on separate issues: Health and Wellbeing, Community Issues and Young People’s Futures.
Every year MYC runs a youth conference around an issue that young people think needs to be addressed. MYC members organise and run the whole day. Every school in the Medway Towns is invited to bring along ten students to get their voices heard. A report is then written and sent to the relevant adults to campaign for change.
For more information visit the website www.medwayyouthcouncil.co.uk.
PHYSICAL FOLK
Physical Folk organises projects to connect communities creatively.
One of the projects is Employment Through Arts. This is a project for 17 to 24 year olds in the Medway Towns who are not in employment, training or education and are interested in making a film or drama production and learn employability skills as they do so.
For more information contact lance@physicalfolk.org.uk or visit the website www.physicalfolk.org.uk .
FRIENDS OF AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL – no longer active
The organisation was set up in the 1980s as a local group of Amnesty International UK, to campaign for an end to torture, for fair and equal treatment, for the release of prisoners of conscience throughout the world and against the death penalty.
The group was involved in actions such as the Stop Torture Campaign and the Human Rights Act Campaign. It was present with a stall at events such as the Dickens Festival and the NGO market of the Magna Carta 800 Medway Conference; it has been trading Amnesty products for fundraising purposes; signing petitions and finding others to sign them; and writing letters to governments, MPs etcetera about specific cases of prisoners of conscience.
The organisation ceased to be an official local group of Amnesty International and continued for a while our work as Friends of Amnesty International. The organisation is no longer active.
MEDWAY SPEAKERS’ CORNER
Medway Speakers’ Corner was set up in 2014 to encourage free speech, discussion and debate in the Medway Towns. It is not necessarily about staged debate, the idea is more to create opportunities for discussion and for people to speak about something that concerns them.
We are focusing on being present at events such as the Annual Conference of Medway Youth Council in November.
For more information contact us at medwayspeaks@gmail.com or visit the website www.medwayspeakerscorner.com .
POWERHOUSE
The overall aims are to reduce re-offending, and to address the widespread problem of homelessness in the Medway Towns/Kent, whilst raising awareness and challenging society’s perceptions, stigmas, and prejudices. The project is primarily to provide affordable sustainable housing initially for men exiting the armed forces or from prison. The houses will be sorted from empty housing stock locally in Kent, and will be renovated environmentally, e.g. looking at what materials are used and at energy efficiency, along with a secondary project of an eco-build and alternative living focus. In addition to this, satellite projects will be set up to address key needs of the client groups, e.g. education/training/employment, health, the arts, therapies, money management, social enterprise, community garden/café, etc.
For more information contact angelene1973@outlook.com.
NEWS IN MEDWAY/COMBAT STRESS/HELP FOR HEROES/THE ROYAL BRITISH LEGION (no longer active)
News in Medway (newsinmedway@live.co.uk) is a social media group, for connecting and informing volunteers regarding Combat Stress (www.combatstress.org.uk), Help for Heroes (www.helpforheroes.org.uk) and the Royal British Legion (www.royalbritishlegion.org.uk). It is a non profit organisation for the community of the Medway Towns. News in Medway (NIM) supports all three charities and is fundraising for all three. NIM also records events and promotes events in the Medway Towns, by photos and film.
News in Medway is no longer active.
ROCHESTER FILM SOCIETY
The film society was formed in 2012/13 with the intention of screening films not usually shown at local cinemas. Independent/art house cinema is a leading forum for outstanding feature films, documentaries and animated productions, which have human rights as their main focus.
Among the films we have screened with a human rights theme have been: The Act of Killing, 12 Years a Slave, Leviathan and Suffragette.
We are a not for profit organisation and have a number of working groups that lead on programming, marketing and finance. Currently we have screenings every other Tuesday at our pop up cinema – the Rochester Picture Palace at the Huguenot Museum in Rochester High Street and periodically at the Cine Lounge at Sun Pier in Chatham. We have also had pop-up events at a local farm shop, the Nucleus Gallery in Rochester, on the Edith May barge and at the Historic Dockyard in Chatham.
Ultimately we hope to have our own cinema and be able to offer films on their first run, afternoon screenings as well as education events etc.
There are always introductions to the films and the option for free flowing post-screening discussions, where people can express their thoughts on the films as well as learn from others with opinions.
For more information go to the website www.rochesterfilmsociety.co.uk or the facebook page www.facebook.com/rochesterpicturepalace.
MEDWAY CITY OF SANCTUARY
Medway City of Sanctuary was set up in 2015. It exists to support refugees in our local community and to advocate and support refugees nationally and internationally. In particular it wants to support young refugees by organising educational activities as well as other meaningful activities and by helping them to integrate in the local community.
For more information see the website www.medwaycityofsanctuary.org .
KNIGHTS OF MEDWAY
The Knights of Medway are a local group of re-enactors who bring history to life, in particular medieval history. They are present at many events, including Medieval Merriment at Rochester Castle, and while re-enacting they raise money for various charities. In 2017 they held their famous lepra-walk, walking in armour from Rochester Cathedral to Canterbury Cathedral to raise money for the fight against leprosy. They also go to local schools and fetes and are involved in film-making such as The White Lady.
Knights of Medway can be contacted via their Facebook Page: Knights of Medway UK. For bookings contact Lady Barbara at Barbara.chapman1@btinternet.com or phone 07954394587.