Weekly Human Rights News: 31/01/25

This week’s news includes online and face-to-face workshops in England, a report by the Mental Wellbeing Commission for Scotland, and a judgment from the European Court of Human Rights relating to a fault-based divorce.

This week, BIHR was invited to speak at a community gathering organised by the West England Centre for Inclusive Living (WECIL). WECIL is a user-led organisation based in Bristol which delivers support and advice to enable disabled people to live the life they choose. The event was aimed at people who use Direct Payments; a Direct Payment is money from the local council to arrange support to meet your social care needs. In our talk, we talked about how the Human Rights Act places legal duties on UK public bodies, including private care providers who are paid through a Direct Payment, to respect, protect and fulfil people’s human rights. We focused on the right to respect for private and family life, home and correspondence (Article 8) which protects our physical and mental wellbeing, making decisions about our care and support, and being part of our communities – all things that are part of conversations about how people use their Direct Payments.

Care and Treatment Reviews (CTRs) are a process brought in by NHS England as part of their work on transforming services for people with learning disabilities and autistic people. CTRs are undertaken by commissioners to ensure that people are only admitted to hospital when absolutely necessary and for the minimum amount of time possible. CTRs carried out by an independent panel of people, including an expert by experience (someone with a learning disability, an autistic person or family carer with lived experience of services), a clinical expert qualified to work in healthcare and the commissioner who pays for the person’s care.

The National Development Team for Inclusion (NDTi) provides support for some regional CTR panel members, and this week they brought in BIHR to lead a training session on how CTRs can use the Human Rights Act. We focused on how the legal duties to both support people's human rights, and to apply other laws in a way that's compatible with human rights can be powerful tools in the review process. Discussing real life examples of both poor and positive human rights practice, we looked at some of the key human rights relevant to CTRs. These included the right to private and family life (Article 8), to liberty (Article 5), to be free from inhuman treatment (Article 3), to life (Article 2) and to non-discrimination (Article 14). At the end, one of the participants shared "Exceptional. Informative in relation to all CTRS. Best session I have had on Human Rights".

BIHR’s brand new 3-part training for senior mental health practitioners working with the Mental Health Act is nearing the deadline for booking enquiries. This online course allows organisations to support their staff to better understand the legal framework of the Human Rights Act and have confidence to apply it where mental health legislation is also at play. Practitioners will hear from people with lived experience of inpatient mental health settings and staff who are working to embed the Human Rights Act in their delivery of mental health care.

Bookings close at 5pm on Wednesday 5th February - enquire now to secure spaces for your organisation!

The Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland published a report: ‘Hospital is not home’

The Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland is a regulator of mental health services in Scotland, aiming to promote and protect the human rights of people with mental health issues, learning disabilities, dementia and related conditions.

This week, they published a new report called ‘Hospital is not home’ which focuses on the circumstances of 55 people with learning disability and complex needs who have been in hospital for 10 years or more. This report was requested by Scottish Government. The Commission found that people are staying in hospital for too long, there is reluctance and concern about how community care resources could support and safeguard people outside of hospital, and confusion about who should be on the Dynamic Support Register, which should help ensure that people are only in hospital for as long as they need to be for assessment and treatment.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has commented that it is ‘deeply concerned’ by the report, urging the Scottish Government to pay close attention to its findings.

Read the report here.

The European Court of Human Rights found a violation of human rights in how the French Courts attributed blame in a divorce

Last week, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) found that there had been a breach of the right to respect for private and family life in a case relating to fault-based divorce. In the case, known as HW v France, HW had filed for divorce from her husband saying he was ‘bad-tempered, violent and insulting’, and her husband put in an opposing claim that his wife, HW was solely to blame for the divorce for ‘failing to fulfil her martial duties’ by not having sex with him. The French Court of Appeal agreed with the husband, saying HW was the only one at fault.

HW brought a human rights case to the ECtHR arguing that the French Court’s reasons for the divorce amounted to a breach of her right to private and family life (Article 8). The ECtHR agreed with her, saying that including sex as part of their definition of ‘marital duties’ was wrong because it ‘ran counter both to sexual freedom and the right to bodily autonomy’. The ECtHR also said the French authorities have a duty to protect human rights by preventing domestic and sexual violence, and the French Court’s decision had gone against this aim.

BIHR has a range of real life stories and information about how the Human Rights Act can support women and girls at risk of violence.

Read the judgment here.