About us

At Protection Approaches we seek a world where everyone accepts and respects each other, regardless of identity. We are dedicated to doing the hard work necessary to make this vision a reality.

No matter where it takes place and no matter whom it targets, every act of identity-based violence is a manifestation of the deadly idea that some lives are more valuable than others. For that reason, Protection Approaches believes that a spectrum of harms – including hate crime, violent extremism, and mass atrocities – should be seen as a shared global crisis: the targeting of individuals or groups solely because of who they are, what they believe, or who they love.

We are currently implementing programmes that support those affected by identity-based violence, challenge those responsible for it, and encourage those in a position to prevent it.

Our community initiatives support marginalised socio-economic, ethnic, religious and cultural groups explore their perceptions and experiences of prejudice, discrimination, and identity-based violence. We encourage community-led responses to hate crime – and the prejudice and marginalisation that can lead to such violence. We are breaking down barriers between victims and public officials, in the process helping to promote dialogue, encourage transparency, and strengthen community relationships.

Our education team works with schools around Britain to develop and run programmes that equip students and teachers with the strategies they need to reject prejudice and violence. Our teacher training programmes help students and staff develop whole-of-school approaches to building a positive and inclusive culture both in the classroom and at home.

Our advocacy has encouraged the integration of ‘prevention thinking’ into decision-making and helped secure a new and public UK approach to atrocity prevention. We will continue to work with our partners in civil society to improve understanding and strengthen implementation of timely, effective strategies that encourage the integration of prevention principles into UK trade, development, defence, foreign, and domestic policies.

We undertake, commission, and coordinate research to ensure that the programmes we develop and implement are supported by evidence and in line with global best practices. We also commission national social attitude and public opinion surveys that inform our work and priorities. Our monitoring and reporting cover a wide range of urgent issues, including the growth of COVID-inspired hate crime; atrocity risks in Burundi, Cameroon, Myanmar, Sudan, and Syria; and increases in identity-based violence in post-Brexit Britain.

We deliver bespoke briefings and trainings on the prediction and prevention of identity-based violence and mass atrocities for a wide range of audiences – including local, regional, and national and governments, political parties, parliamentary committees, civil servants, civil society organisations, and journalists – from around the world. We have provided everything from detailed briefings on impending or ongoing mass atrocities to big-picture trainings on how organisations and governments can implement more effective prevention strategies.

Our values

We believe that

• Justice is at the heart of human dignity and rights.
• Identity-based violence comes in many forms, each rooted in the same set of causes.
• Identifying and understanding what drives identity-based violence is central to preventing it.
• Building strong, resilient, and inclusive societies requires challenging structural discrimination and inequality.
• We have a collective and individual responsibility to protect those at risk of violence.
• Governments have a fundamental duty to challenge and prevent identity-based violence no matter where it occurs or how it manifests