Our policy projects

Putting human rights into other laws and policies

Too often laws and policies are made without reference to our human rights. Yet our Human Rights Act requires all laws and policies to be applied in a way that upholds our human rights (read more about this).

At BIHR, our practical programmes reveal areas of everyday life where national laws and policies need improvements to make them more human rights-respecting. We use this experience to inform our policy work, focusing on how we can mainstream human rights into the analysis of problems and the development of solutions that support people's rights.

By securing more rights-respecting laws and policies in the first place, rather than having to wait until things go wrong to apply human rights, we help contribute to the culture of respect for human rights at the heart of our organisational purpose.

Find out more about our lived experiences

Our recent work

Putting human rights at the heart of national law and policy development

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A Human Rights Bill for Scotland Consultation

Read our letter response to the Scottish Government's consultation on a Human Rights Bill for Scotland.

Cost-of-Living Crisis

We put together guides for Parliamentarians and for the general public on how and why our Human Rights Act can be used to protect people during the cost-of-living crisis. 

Equality Law

Read about our response to the UK Government's consultation on equality law and legal duties on public bodies.

Mental Capacity Law & Deprivations of Liberty

Read about the work we've done to call for reform to the deprivation of liberty safeguard and greater protection of the right to liberty.
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Social Housing Reform

Read our response to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities' consultation on proposed changes to the social housing allocation system.

The Independent Review of Administrative Law

Find out about the evidence we supported to the panel set up to review the way judicial review works in the UK.

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

Read our plain-language briefing on key human rights and previous case law related to assisted dying.

Experience Informed Research

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Asylum Accommodation Inquiry

Read our response to the Home Affairs Committee's inquiry on asylum accommodation, drawing on our work with community groups in the asylum sector.

Challenging discriminatory Do Not Resuscitate decisions

Find out more about BIHR's experience informed research and policy work challenging the discriminatory use of do no resuscitate orders. 
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Changing Mental Health Law

Our experience informed research with people involved in accessing or delivering mental health services underpins our policy work on the new draft Mental Health Act.
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Human Rights & COVID-19

Find out about our research and evidence submitted to the Joint Committee on Human Rights on human rights during COVID-19.
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Do Not Resuscitate Notices & People with Learning Disabilities

Read about our research into Do Not Resuscitate notices and the experiences of people with learning disabilities, commissioned by the Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman.

Human Rights in Action: The importance of visitors for residents and patients

Read about the importance of visitors for residents and patients and the human rights duties on health and care providers to support visitation.

New Mental Health Act 2025

Read about our work on the new Mental Health Act including our human rights explainers, our briefings on amendments to the Bill and our work to amplify lived experience voices.
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Proposed changes to reporting on restraint in mental health units

Read our response to the Department of Health and Social Care's consultation on changing regulations to introduce a requirement to report on use of restraint in mental health units within 72 hours.

Rule of Law Inquiry

We submitted evidence to the Constitution Committee's inquiry, highlighting the ways the Human Rights Act can and does strengthen the rule of law in the UK.
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Visiting in care homes, hospitals and hospices

Read our response to the Department of Health and Social Care's consultation on changing regulations on visiting rights in hospitals, care homes and hospices.