The Human Dignity Trust has lodged an appeal with the Charity Tribunal against the Charity Commission’s decision not to register it as a charity, and has garnered the support of other human rights charities.

In October the Charity Commission announced that it stood by its previous decision not to register the organisation as a charity because its activity is too political. The Human Dignity Trust (HDT) applied to join the register in July 2011 and requested a decision review after the Commission refused registration in July 2012.

Jonathan Cooper, chief executive of the HDT, said: “If upheld, the Charity Commission’s decision would set a dangerous precedent that upholding human rights law is not a charitable purpose, and many of our peer organisations are rightly concerned.”

Fellow human rights charities Amnesty International and Justice have also signalled their support to HDT.

Andrea Coomber, director at Justice, said: “The decision undermines the determination of Parliament that the advancement of human rights must be a charitable purpose. If [the decision] stands, valuable work to uphold important legal standards designed to protect us all will be deemed to have no public benefit. This cannot be the case.”

Amnesty International UK’s director of corporate services, Tony Farnfield, added: “HDT’s work to challenge the criminalisation of consensual activity is, by any sensible definition, a human rights matter and meets a common sense test of the public benefit requirement. Parliament needs to issue fresh guidance to enable the Charity Commission to apply more practical rigour in cases such as this one.”

The Commission has until 11 December to submit its answer.