The new guidance aims to clarify the difference between political purposes and political activities and details the range of activities charities can engage in to promote human rights.

It follows the draft Charities Bill's inclusion of the advancement of human rights as a charitable purpose, and comments at the time from charities minister Fiona Mactaggart that suggested charities did not appreciate the flexibility the law allowed them.

The commission's director of legal services, Kenneth Dibble, said on the release of the new guidance: "Promoting human rights can be a difficult area and many charities don't realise how much freedom they have. There are very few circumstances where charities working in this field can't undertake this kind of activity and make valuable contributions to the maintenance and promotion of human rights.

"We hope this revision makes it a lot clearer to these organisations how much they can do to promote human rights all over the world, and are keen to get charities' views."

However, the distinction between political activities and purposes remain, and the guidance is likely to continue to bar those organisations, such as Amnesty, which campaign against human rights abuses in regimes where such principles are not enshrined in law. "An organisation which has purposes which include the promotion of human rights by seeking a change in the law, or a shift in government policy, or a reversal of a government decision has (at least in part) political purposes and cannot be a charity," reads the guidance.

The commission is consulting on the guidance until 15 September 2004. An executive summary and the full report are available from its website www.charitycommission.gov.uk.