We are the PEC

The Policy & Evidence Centre on Human Rights

We strive for a world where everyone can enjoy their human rights to dignity, security, opportunity and a life free from exploitation.

A world where those rights are realised through effective policies shaped by evidence and lived experience.

Where opportunities for the powerful to exploit others no longer exist, and no one is made vulnerable to exploitation because of their identity, circumstances or social status. 

Whether that’s people facing poverty forced into unsafe and unpaid work, children in online spaces recruited into criminal gangs, people seeking safe refuge from violence, migrant workers excluded by language barriers or lack of legal protections, low-paid employees mistreated in supply chains...the risks are everywhere.

Laws and policies, including human rights and modern slavery protections, are vital. But they must reflect how exploitation unfolds in the real world to effectively protect people’s right to a dignified and secure life free from exploitation. 

What we do about it

We believe the best way to get there is by harnessing the combined knowledge and expertise of:

• the people who experience and survive exploitation
• the practitioners working to prevent it
• those responsible for researching, creating and enforcing the protections.

That’s why, at the PEC, we bring together expertise from people with lived experience of exploitation, human rights specialists, frontline practitioners, policymakers, researchers, civil society and businesses.

Crucially, we do this in ways that are mindful of the potential for power imbalance between contributors, the risk of repeated trauma, and the need to stay rigorously unbiased, transparent and independent.

Their joint expertise helps us understand the systems that enable exploitation so we can, together, strengthen the laws and policies designed to prevent it. 

Our focus

With a history grounded in tackling modern slavery, we currently focus on that and other related human rights harms. For now, this includes modern slavery and human trafficking, risks of exploitation in migration, children exposed to online harm, violence against women and girls, and labour exploitation. Our work also includes building public understanding of why human rights matter: protecting rights is about security and dignity for all of us, in our everyday lives. 

These areas of focus will evolve over time, as the world around us changes and our ability to work on other areas evolves.

Throughout that evolution, our main focus remains the same: 

The right we all have to feel secure no matter what – from people in vulnerable circumstances feeling safe from precarious work, to children being protected from harms within the online world, and to people fleeing violence in their homes finding safe refuge where they can heal and rebuild. 

This is about the protection of our humanity.

Who we are

The PEC is a Centre of expertise in human rights policy in the Humanities Division at the University of Oxford, underpinned by a research collaboration with the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, the Universities of Liverpool and Hull, the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law and Middlesex School of Law and Social Sciences.

It is currently funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) on behalf of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and by the Sigrid Rausing Trust. 

These are the core values that guide how we work:

Independence: Building on the powerful combination of expertise from people with lived experience, high-quality academic research, policymakers, and other specialists, we approach issues critically and rigorously without bias, letting the research and evidence guide us towards meaningful impact.

Inclusivity: We listen intently, respectfully, and with open minds to everyone. We amplify diverse voices wherever possible, with a special focus on centring the experience and expertise of people directly affected by the exploitation we seek to address. Crucially, we do this in ways that are mindful of power imbalance between contributors, and the risk of repeated trauma.

Transparency: Continuously in pursuit of the truth, we approach our work with honesty, curiosity, openness, and integrity. This means we don’t mislead or hide behind ambiguity but instead seek to clarify and evidence the realities of how exploitation is enabled.

Collaboration: We know that exploitation from modern slavery and related human rights harms can only be addressed if people work together. We bring together partners around the world to build on our collective knowledge, co-create robust research, and look to achieve the biggest impact.