Weekly Human Rights News: 09/08/2024

This week’s human rights news includes a message from our CEO about the unrest across the country, an update on our communities and other training programmes and some happy internal news.  

Since last week's news, we have seen terrible events unfold across the country, with racist threats and violence impacting many of the communities we work with and for; communities some of us at BIHR are also part of. This week we have had to pause some of our activities as community groups on the frontline of supporting people in some of the most vulnerable situations have feared for their safety. We stand in solidarity and with care, and whilst some of our activities may have paused, we will come back to it, together, with renewed commitment to why our human rights matter for us all.

BIHR's UK-wide Community Programme is now well underway, with our delivery team currently working alongside 4 different community partners to co-create a solution, whatever that may be, which uses human rights law to strengthen their voice and support their mission. This programme has four phases: discover, define, develop and deliver. This week we met (virtually) with the African Women Empowerment Forum and the Northern Ireland Refugees and Asylum Seekers Women Association to define and plan exactly what kind of solution would be most useful to each unique group and the people they support, and we will be continuing to develop this in partnership over the coming months.

Check out our Human Rights Act advocacy guide, staff handbook, Easy Read postcards and Child Rights Impact Assessment tool co-created with community groups.

Find out more about BIHR's work to co-design human rights support solutions with community groups

Join us for a series of three online sessions in autumn 2024, launching during Advocacy Awareness Week (14-18 October). These sessions will empower you with the knowledge and confidence to harness human rights law in your practice, be it working with survivors of domestic abuse or ensuring the voices of people with learning disabilities are heard. We will be focusing on:

• Interpreting other legislation through the lens of the Human Rights Act (HRA), with an emphasis on relevant legislation advocates use across all sectors, including mental health and safeguarding law.
• In-depth discussions of public bodies’ statutory duties, using real case studies.
• Utilising the language of the HRA to formally address issues with public bodies.

We will host an in-person networking and publicity event in early 2025 to consolidate and share learning while celebrating the invaluable work advocates do.

After 6 years, Carlyn (our Head of Policy and Programmes) is taking a break from BIHR to welcome a whole new person into the world! We are beyond happy for her, and wish her a restful and beautiful next few months. Whilst a new baby is a very wonderful thing, at BIHR we will be introducing our new Senior Manager in early September. There will be a more detailed introduction in the coming weeks, but we are so pleased to have such a great new person to come in whilst Carlyn is away. 

Offer for free training from Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman

We are sharing this new free training opportunity from The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO).

• The workshops are called Complaints Champions, Designed and developed by the PHSO, they can be delivered online or in person to help your staff members better navigate the complicated complaints landscape and help your service users to get access to justice.
• Follow this link to register your interest and pick a date to attend.

To find out more about The Parliamentary Service Ombudsman and what they do, click on this link What we do | Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO).