Weekly Human Rights News: 27-10-23

We’re currently working with an NHS Trust to support them to embed a culture of human rights in their work. On Tuesday 25^th October, we continued with an online session co-delivered with one of our Lived Experience Experts. In a survey, 71.4% of participants said that the workshops have made them feel more positive about the Human Rights Act with the other 28.6% saying they continued to feel mostly positive about the Act. We also found that 100% of participants said having a Lived Experience Expert on the session was beneficial or really important to their learning.

On Wednesday 25th October, our CEO Sanchita talked to the National Development Team for Inclusion (NDTi), a social change organisation, about the UK's Human Rights Act. It was the first of a two-part series supporting staff to explore how human rights are central to their work. Previous community groups that we’ve worked with have described the workshops as “very informative and relatable to everyday lives” and said, “thank you for tailoring it to independent advocacy…this will improve all of our practice.”

Please be aware that the external human rights news BIHR shares weekly contains difficult and potentially triggering issues.  This week's external news includes a child with critical illness and life support.

Parents are appealing the decision to end their baby’s treatment

Seven-month-old Indi Gregory has mitochondrial disease and is being treated at Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham. However, doctors say there is nothing more they can do for her and the treatment is causing her pain so they want to stop life support. On Friday 13^th October, the High Court decided “with a heavy heart” that this would be legal as the burdens of the treatment on Indi outweigh the benefits. The Court acknowledged that the right to life, the right to family life and the right to be free from discrimination were engaged. Indi’s parents have appealed the decision and will have their case heard in the Court of Appeal on Monday 30^th October.

Source: BBC

The Ministry of Justice shared a list of Human Rights Act cases

The Ministry of Justice shared a collection of 81 legal cases that involved Section 3 of the Human Rights Act. Section 3 says that other laws have to be interpreted compatibly with human rights wherever possible.

Examples of cases on the list include DPP v Zeigler, where three protestors blocked the road to the Excel Centre in East London ahead of an arms fair, and Jwanczuk v the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, where a man was denied bereavement support payments after his disabled wife passed away.

See the collection