Weekly Human Rights News: 01/11/2024

On Wednesday, our CEO travelled to the West Midlands to facilitate a workshop with a group of managers and leaders who are responsible for support provided to young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) in their local areas. We had a strong focus on the duties in the Human Rights Act and how leaders can use these to drive positive and proactive action that supports people’s human rights. We discussed the importance of explicit language, and the role of leaders in naming and using human rights in policy, process and practice, because ultimately what may be our intent won’t help the staff member who has to make the decision unless it’s clear this is about human rights. The most shared (anonymously!) words at the end of the talk was “thought-provoking”, along with enabling, informative, insightful, and energising!

This session was part of a wider leadership programme, hosted by another organisation. BIHR regularly provides guest speaker and workshop sessions, please contact if you would like to discuss this option training@bihr.org.uk.

BIHR has been working together with four vibrant community groups over the past few months to co-design a human rights support solution with them, which aims to address some of the challenges that people face in their communities. The support solutions have been tailored to each individual organisation’s needs, and we are working on a range of resources, from a human rights game to help people with a learning disability to know and claim their rights, to a detailed advocacy guide for parent carers to use in their conversations with health, social care and education. After a summer of planning, developing, designing and testing, we are now getting ready to share the human rights support solutions with the world, and most importantly with the people in our communities who will use them to take action in their own lives.

The Care Quality Commission published a report on healthcare and adult social care in England

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England, seeking to improve standards across those services. The CQC publishes an annual report called the State of Care, which sets out findings from their inspection activity and other research, and looks at trends, shares good practice, and highlights where improvements are needed.

On 25^th October, the CQC published their report for 2023 to 2024 which identifies challenges affecting how people are able to access the support they need as well as the quality of those services, highlighting a number of areas of specific concern including maternity care, children and young people’s health, and black men’s mental health.

The Human Rights Act (HRA) puts a legal duty on the CQC itself to respect, protect and fulfil human rights, as well as on many of the services it monitors. The CQC highlighted a number of areas of concern which have an impact on people’s human rights. This included people with a learning disability and autistic people who are often subject to inappropriate admissions to mental health hospitals, and blanket restrictive practices in residential settings. Additionally, the report called for system-wide reform of the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) framework as too many people are being left without legal protection of their right to liberty (Article 5 HRA) due to lengthy assessment backlogs, leaving people in vulnerable situations.

Read the State of Care report here.

Job Opportunities at Southall Community Alliance

BIHR has partnered with Southall Community Alliance over four years as part of our London Community Programme with Just Fair, generously funded by the Baring Foundation. This programme offers tailored support to community groups to put human rights into action, however that looks for them.

Southhall Community Alliance is currently hiring for multiple roles, including a Human Rights Outreach Officer, and are seeking passionate individuals to join their team.

Find out more on LinkedIn.