Weekly Human Rights News: 18-11-22

This week's news includes updates on our work in Scotland and our new co-developed resources.

News from BIHR

We were in Scotland this week

On Tuesday we delivered a workshop to the Scottish Commission for People with Learning Disabilities. The workshop covered how our Human Rights Act works in Scotland and how replacing the Act with the Rights Removal Bill would impact disabled people. We ended with how we can work together to protect our Human Rights Act.

This week, we also released our easy read letter to write to your MP. We worked with Sian and Lucy, Pembrokeshire People First members and RITES Committee members, to create this letter and it was checked by the Scottish Commission for People with Learning Disabilities. A huge thank you to everyone involved!

Get the letter

Our work with Midlothian Health and Social Care Partnership

On Thursday we delivered the second of our workshops in our anticipatory care planning and human rights programme with Midlothian HSCP. Here's what one participant had to say about the workshop:

"Great insight into human rights within everyday life. Gives you the confidence to speak up and challenge people if you feel someone is not being treated with the dignity and respect they deserve."

The Human Rights Act & the Cost-of-Living Crisis

As we face one of the most severe cost-of-living crises the UK has ever seen, it’s more important than ever that people are supported to know and claim their rights. Equally, it’s important that those in positions of public power are held accountable when they breach or fail to respect our human rights.

Drawing on lived experience, we have created two short guides which explain the relevance of our Human Rights Act (HRA) during the cost-of-living crisis.

Get the guides

News from Elsewhere

Please be aware that the external human rights news BIHR shares weekly contains difficult and potentially triggering issues. This week triggers include the death of a child.

The Chancellor shared the Autumn Statement

This week, we saw the Chancellor announce a new budget. As we face one of the most severe cost-of-living crises the UK has ever seen, the measures in the budget may impact our human rights.

Source: BBC

Just Fair coordinated a joint statement calling on the UK Government to respect human rights in the UK

We were one of 82 organisations calling on the UK Government to respect human rights in the UK after many UN member states highlighted failures across the board during the United Nations' Universal Periodic Review. The statement highlights concerns that the ‘Rights Removal Bill’ will undermine the protections and remedies provided by the Human Rights Act.

You can read the joint statement here.

An inquest has found that mould in local authority accommodation contributed to the death of a two-year old boy

Two-year-old Awaab Ishak was found to have died as a result of mould in a local authority maintained property in Rochdale. This was despite his father raising the issue with the local authority several times. Awaab’s family have called on Rochdale Boroughwide Housing to "stop providing unfair treatment" to migrants, refugees and asylum seekers. This impacts their right to private and family life under Article 8, Awaab’s right to life under Article 2 and their right to be free from discrimination under Article 14 of the Human Rights Act.