Weekly Human Rights News: 17/01/2025

This week’s human rights news includes information about the quarterly London Communities Programme meeting, an update on our final practice leads workshop with TEWV NHS Trust, the UK Government’s response to our human rights day letter and news on the Joint Committee on Human Rights’ call for evidence on the Mental Health Bill.

This week, BIHR and Just Fair facilitated the second quarterly meeting of our London Communities Programme. During the session, we were joined by the programme’s learning partner, TSIC, who delivered an informative workshop on reporting for the programme. 

Members from all four of the community groups taking part in the programme came together to share ideas, discuss their progress, successes and challenges, and to think about how we can support them to embed a human rights-based approach in their work. 

On Wednesday, we caught up with practitioners working across a range of teams and roles at Tees, Esk and Wear Valley NHS Foundation Trust. This was the final workshop in our 9-part programme supporting staff to understand their legal duties to respect, protect and fulfil human rights in their day-to-day work and embed the Human Rights Act in the design and delivery of health services. Over the course of this learning programme, participants have explored key rights that will help to guide their decision-making, including where rights may need to be balanced. For our final meeting, we recapped the content of the programme which began in April 2024, reflected on individual training goals, and considered how learning could be practically taken forward to support rights-respecting practice for people accessing TEWV services. 

On Human Rights Day 2024 (10th December), BIHR co-ordinated an open letter to the Prime Minister and political leaders, signed by over 70 organisations from across all four nations of the UK. The letter called on politicians to reaffirm the UK’s commitment to its human rights obligations, both nationally and internationally, and to make their own commitments to supporting a culture of respect for human rights across the UK. 

On 7th January Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice Lord Ponsonby (who spoke at BIHR’s human rights day event) responded on behalf of the UK Government. He thanked us and the other signatories for our letter and emphasised that the Government is committed to promoting and protecting human rights. He wrote: 

“…the UK Government is fully committed to the protection of human rights both domestically and internationally. We are committed to the international human rights framework and the important role of the multilateral organisations like the Council of Europe play in upholding it. This Government will never withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights”.  

SRC’s Rights in Recovery Development Officer Tom talked about using the Human Rights in Recovery guide 

 In August 2024, following a successful advocacy programme, BIHR and Scottish Recovery Consortium (SRC) worked together to co-produce a guide called "Using Human Rights in Recovery". As SRC's Rights in Recovery Development Officer, Tom Bennett, explains, "the Human Rights Act offers essential protection for people whose lives have been, or continue to be, affected by alcohol and drugs." 

 Writing this month for Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems' blog, Tom discussed the importance of overcoming stigma and supporting people to advocate for their human rights. He says, "People in recovery continually tell us of the barriers they faced when accessing medical services, and how they felt unable to participate meaningfully in decisions which affected them, and they felt powerless to challenge decisions. The information in our Guide can help to redress this imbalance of power." 

Read the full blog 

Get the guide 

The Joint Committee on Human Rights has called for evidence to support it to examine the Mental Health Bill.  

The Joint Committee on Human Rights is a Parliamentary group made up of MPs and peers which is responsible for looking at matters that are relevant to human rights in the UK. Part of their role is look at Government Bills and how they might impact human rights in the UK.  

The Committee is now looking at the Mental Health Bill and considering if it is compatible with human rights. The Committee would like to hear about what you think about human rights and the Mental Health Bill. The Committee has a specific list of concerns it is looking at but also asks if there are any other issues that might impact on human rights.  You will need to send a written response by 24th January. You can do this online or if you need help you can contact jchr@parliament.uk 

BIHR will be submitting evidence to the Committee, and we will update on this soon.  

Find out more about the mental health bill in our explainer.