Weekly Human Rights News: 22/11/24

This week’s human rights news includes a new briefing on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, the final workshop in our short advocacy programme, and a new research report on children who are deprived of their liberty from the Children’s Commissioner. 

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill was published earlier this month, also referred to as the Assisted Dying Bill, which, if it passes, would change the law to allow terminally ill adults to request and be given assistance by doctors to end their own lives. 

The Bill will be debated by Members of Parliament for the first time on Friday 29th November, known as the Bill’s “second reading”. This week, BIHR sent a briefing to parliamentarians setting out some of the key human rights issues involved in this area. The briefing considers the right to life (Article 2 HRA), the right to be free from inhuman and degrading treatment (Article 3 HRA), the right to private life (Article 8 HRA), and the right to be free from discrimination (Article 14 HRA). It also summarises some key human rights legal cases in this area, setting out how decisions have been made about various individuals previously. 

This week we came to the third and final workshop in our short course for advocates which aims to build their knowledge and confidence to use human rights in their work. Having spent the first two workshops getting to grips with the legal framework of the Human Rights Act and how some of the key rights for their work apply in practice, the final workshop focused on practical tips and tools for identifying and raising a human rights issue with a public body. 

We invited participants to spend the final part of the workshop reflecting on the most useful thing they have learned on the course – answers included knowing the difference between absolute and non-absolute rights, the duties on public bodies to respect, protect and fulfil human rights, and how the Human Rights Act operates as a foundation law for various other laws they work with every day. 

In our anonymous survey, one participant said that “each session has felt like a building of knowledge and in turn confidence in regards to the HRA.” 

If you would be interested in BIHR’s 3-part course being delivered in-house for your advocacy organisation or team please get in touch with us on training@bihr.org.uk. 

The Children’s Commissioner published a report on the experiences of children who are subject to deprivation of liberty orders 

The Children’s Commissioner for England is an independent organisation that advocates for the rights and interests of children in England. This week they published a report containing research based on interviews with children with complex needs who are deprived of their liberty, as well as some parents and professionals. These restrictions are often experienced by children in the care system, in young offender institutions, mental health wards, or secure children’s homes, as well as outside of secure settings, and are used when children are considered to be at very high risk of harm to themselves, from others, and occasionally towards others. The report calls for an urgent reform of children’s social care as well as more specialist children’s homes, integrated support from other agencies, and a trauma-informed, child-centred approach. 

The right to liberty (Article 5 HRA) protects everyone, including children, from extreme and unnecessary restrictions on their freedom of movement. It is a non-absolute right, which means that in certain circumstances people can be deprived of their liberty if this decision is lawful (there is a law which allows it), for a legitimate aim (usually to protect the person or others from harm), and it is proportionate (the least restrictive way of meeting that aim). 

Read the report.