Human rights organisation Interights has announced it will close next month due to a funding shortage.

Based in London, the organisation provides expertise and advice on human rights litigation regarding issues of particular international, regional or national importance.

In a message posted on its website, executive director John Wadham, former director of Liberty, said the group will close down on 27 May after 32 years of defending and promoting human rights and freedoms worldwide.

Wadham said Interights had found it increasingly difficult to retain funding for its work over the past two to three years and has now decided it will be ‘impossible’ to sustain the organisation over the long term.

He added: ‘Despite downsizing the organisation significantly, making many of our long-term staff redundant and negotiating significant reductions in other costs, we now have no choice but to cease operating. 

‘In the next two months we will be focusing our efforts on our current cases in order to identify other lawyers and NGOs to take forward this important work after our closure.’

Past successes for Interights cited by Wadham included challenging slavery in Niger, protecting minorities such as the Transdniestria community in Moldova and supporting those harassed or discriminated against because of their sexual orientation or gender.