Weekly Human Rights News: 26-05-23

Our work with NHS services is designed to boost staff knowledge, confidence and commitment to human rights in everything from policies to everyday interactions. We talked to Practice Leads about how mental health services can be delivered in a rights-respecting way with a particular focus on the right to liberty and how this applies to the use of restraint.

This June marks one year since the formation of our RITES Committee – made up of lived experience experts who have used the Human Rights Act in real life to improve outcomes for themselves, their loved ones and/or the people they support. We’ll be celebrating with an event held in the House of Lords this June, where our experts will speak to MPs and civil society groups about why our Human Rights Act matters. They’ll be joined by our trustees Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson and Sir Nicolas Bratza, former President of the European Court of Human Rights.

The Council of Europe released its draft report on human rights reform in the UK

On Thursday 25^th May, Rapporteur Kamal Jafarov’s draft report on human rights reform in the UK was published, featuring evidence given by our CEO and Head of Policy & Programmes. The report will be debated by the full Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in June.

Check our Twitter thread for some of the key points raised in the report, including concerns about the Rights Removal Bill and the Refugee Ban Bill.

Source: PACE

The European Court of Human Rights found Romania’s failure to recognise same-sex relationships breaches human rights

21 same-sex couples who live in Romania brought a case against the State for preventing them from getting married. The European Court said that Member States are required to provide a legal framework for recognising and protecting same-sex relationships although they have some discretion to decide how to do this. The Romanian Government had given no indication of intentions to provide legal protection for same-sex relationships and the couples couldn’t access other legal rights, like property rights, as a result. It therefore said that Romania was disproportionately interfering with the Article 8 right to private and family life.

Read the press release.