Weekly Human Rights News: 04/04/2025

This week, we are sharing news of our new NSHE partnership programme, as well as the conclusion of our new mental health open training course. We also share news of the Attorney General’s visit to the Joint Committee on Human Rights.

This week we kicked off our new NSHE partnership programme delivered by BIHR. We met with regional commissioners and senior staff to explore the vital role of the Human Rights Act in health and care services and how its legal duties can be levered by staff across local government, NHS and providers to review, challenge and change services to better deliver rights-respecting support with and for people. Lots of ideas for action are already emerging, with many describing the session as a “lightbulb moment” that can drive forward a different, positive and proactive approach. The programme will be progressing in coming months with training and practice leadership, to build knowledge, skills and action. 

This week we met with senior mental health practitioners from across a range of organisations for the final time on our 3-part online training course: Embedding Human Rights Legal Duties in the Delivery of Mental Health Care. Having learned about the Human Rights Act and how it guides the application of mental health law, and explored how different rights work to support people experiencing mental distress with their recovery in the least restrictive way, it was time for participants to apply this to their work and consider how they will take their learning forward after the training to build a culture of respect for human rights in their teams. 

Participants described the course as engaging, beneficial, informative and empowering, and some of the actions for after the programme included reading and creating resources about human rights, involving people in conversations about their rights, and supporting their colleagues with information about human rights. 

Sign up to BIHR’s eNews to be the first to hear about future training courses and opportunities 

The Attorney General attended the Joint Committee on Human Rights 

The Attorney General (AG) Lord Hermer KC joined the Joint Committee on Human Rights this week. During his attendance, he discussed the importance of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) on its 75th year. His discussion focused on the UK's compliance with the ECHR, explaining the margin of appreciation that the European Court of Human rights offers to the UK and other states signed up to the ECHR to make decisions over their own immigration and asylum policies.

The AG also discussed the Article 8 right to a private and family life home and correspondence. This discussion addressed misconceptions and misinformation that had been shared about how Article 8 is and isn’t applied in immigration cases in the UK.

The AG went on to take questions from the JCHR on issues such as the rule of law in the UK, and the UK’s relationship with international human rights laws. 

Watch the Attorney General discussing the ECtHR at the JCHR. 

Read more about the European Convention of Human Rights.