The answer to that is national charity Victim Support.  They are not part of the police, the courts or any other criminal justice agency.  They can talk to you in confidence, give you information about the system, and help you deal with other organisations.

If you want to contact them the telephone line is 0845 30 30 900.  If you want to donate you can do so here.

We defend the natural world and promote peace by investigating, exposing and confronting environmental abuse, and championing environmentally responsible solutions.

To find out more, see the web-site, you can donate here.

Kalayaan is an organisation which fights for justice for migrant domestic workers.  For example, one of their current campaigns is about domestic workers trafficked by diplomats.

Their work is explained in this extract from a recent article in the Guardian:

The London-based charity Kalayaan is the only one in the country that deals specifically with migrant domestic workers; it saw 356 clients in 2009, and says it is impossible to guess the full extent of the problem.

Of those the charity saw last year, 59% said they had not been allowed out of the house they were working in without being supervised by their employer’s family. Many had little or no privacy; 57% didn’t have their own room, and had to sleep in rooms with the children they cared for, or on sofas and floors.

A shocking 17% of respondents reported that they had been physically assaulted, and 58% had had their passports kept from them, ensuring they lived in fear of being caught by police without the documents that prove they are in the UK legally. More than half of the new workers who registered with the charity were given no time off at all.

To find out more, see their web-site www.kalayaan.org.uk.

Law Centres are set up to provide legal help to those who cannot afford to use professional lawyers.  They tend to specialise in work such as welfare, housing, family law, and human rights.  The sorts of things that ‘standard’ firms of solicitors generally do not cover.

Law centres are always on the edge of financial disaster, even those which have the support of wealthy city law firms.  Several have had to close in recent years, which  means that there is no longer anyone around to help those in need of legal assistance in their areas.

Providing legal help does not sound very important to many people, who often prefer to support charities for health issues, children, animals and the environment.  However being able to get justice thorugh the courts is, or should be, a fundamental human right.  So often the things that lawyers help people with are of huge importance in their lives.  A living wage.  Protection from a violent partner.  Fighting for decent housing.  And challenging injustice generally.

I fear for the law centres in the current economic climate, and feel sure that supporting legal aid (which is where law centres get most of their funding) and legal charities  generally are going to be way down the importance list for a government keen to make cuts.  So I hope that any of you who have the opportunity, will support and speak up for your local law centre, and do what you can to keep it open.  Justice for all is an important plank of our civilization.  We should fight for it.

You can find out how you can get involved >> here.

• Improved access to bank accounts, insurance and financial capability training
• Implementation of anti-discrimination laws to support equality for reformed offenders
• Enabling of prisoners to vote in line with the European Court of Human Rights judgement
• Establishment of a community-based alternative to prison focused on training and employment
• A trusted, flexible and high quality information service
• More positive public opinion of reformed offenders
• Development of a strong community of reformed offenders committed to equality

Unlock is a registered charity and has some high profile patrons including Baroness Helena Kennedy Q.C. and Kate Adie OBE.

If you wish to support the organisation click here.