BIHR – bringing rights to life

News

Teaching Citizenship through Human Rights – FREE teacher training events

To celebrate the launch of the Human Rights in Schools Project resources, we are holding a series of FREE teacher training events during June 2008 for those involved in delivering Citizenship education at Key Stage 3.

Dates and Venues:

3 June Bristol
6 June London
10 June Coventry
17 June Newcastle
19 June Leeds

For more information on the training events, including how to book a place, click here.

Changing the face of human rights

BIHR has commenced an exciting programme of activities under the banner ‘Changing the face of human rights’. This work is a response to the climate of myths and misinformation that prevail about human rights and how they relate to everyday life in the UK. We see the need for a major strategic initiative which lifts us out of the current, extremely narrow conception of human rights and lays the ground for individuals and organisations to put a fresh and broader vision of human rights into practice.

Overall we want to shift public, political and media perceptions of human rights from being almost wholly negative to being appreciative of their origins, aspirations and everyday relevance. Our programme aims to:

Capture existing thinking about human rights in ways that make their origins and purposes clear to a wider variety of audiences and helps to broaden out the debate from one about law or a narrow range of groups in society;
Stimulate a wider range of stakeholders, including people experiencing social exclusion and discrimination, to think and debate afresh about the role and value of human rights and on their priorities for action in deploying human rights to improve people’s lives; and
Vividly illustrate and communicate this fresh thinking in ways that help to maintain and increase involvement of a wide range of stakeholders in a ‘live’ debate about human rights and their potential as a positive force for change.

We see this initiative as an umbrella process for a variety of initiatives, involving consultation, research, communications and use of the arts that fully ‘inquire’ into the breadth of current and potential relevance and value of human rights in today’s Britain.

The information we gather together will feed into a civil society manifesto on human rights to influence all the political parties in the run up to next General Election. We have funding from the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust for part of this programme and are now talking to other potential funders and partners. Subject to funds, upcoming activities include a human rights myth-busting guide; work relating to the British Bill of Rights debate (including briefings and capacity-building to engage NGOs in this process); and policy seminars on human rights 'hot topics'.

For further information please contact ssceats@bihr.org.uk

BIHR campaign to close the Human Rights Act loophole

In June 2007 the House of Lords ruled that the Human Rights Act does not apply to private and voluntary sector care homes providing services under contract to local authorities. As a consequence, hundreds of thousands of older and disabled people have been denied the protection they were promised when the Human Rights Act was passed by Parliament.

BIHR has been at the forefront of efforts to close this legal ‘loophole’, working closely with a variety of other organisations. Since early 2007, we have convened a group of more than 15 age, disability and human rights organisations to explore legislative solutions. Pressure placed on the Government has led to a commitment by Ben Bradshaw, Minister of State at the Department of Health, to consider tabling an amendment to the Health and Social Care Bill, currently before Parliament. Click here to read the latest parliamentary briefing prepared by BIHR, Liberty, JUSTICE, Help the Aged and Age Concern England which supports this course of action.

For further information please see Policy briefings and research reports

BIHR statement in support of the EHRC human rights inquiry announced on 6 March 2008

BIHR Director Katie Ghose said: ‘This inquiry is a golden opportunity to put the myths to rest and finally tell the real story about how human rights are being used in practical ways to forge a fairer Britain. We are confident it will confirm for the public why the Human Rights Act must stay on the statute book.’

Read the statement

The Criminal Justice & Immigration Bill: how do human rights relate to the proposed extension of an offence of incitement to hatred to protect lesbian and gay people?

This Bill is currently going through Parliament and in the Commons MPs approved an addition to the law: a new offence of incitement to homophobic hatred. Some people have raised concerns that this could infringe people’s right to freedom of speech or to religious expression. BIHR has produced a note giving background on these human rights issues and how they relate to the proposed new offence. See here

Events

Making Rights Real: European Year of Equalities for All conference for the voluntary and community sector

15 November, International Convention Centre, Birmingham

The Government Equalities Office and the new Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) joined forces and, with the support of the Equality and Diversity Forum and the British Institute of Human Rights, arranged this dedicated event for voluntary and community sector (VCS) organisations. The conference was a unique opportunity for the VCS to hear from the EHRC and Government about progress on equality and human rights, to voice their concerns and to share experience and best practice.

A report from this event will be available here soon.

Lunchtime Lectures

Details of future Lunchtime Lectures will be added here as soon as they are available. Please get in touch with us if you would have suggestions for speakers.

Report from BIHR's conference – ‘Human rights visions of equality’ – available to download now

The report from our conference 'Human rights visions equality' is now available to download, just as the new Equality and Human Rights Commission opens its doors on Monday 1 October. The report captures the inspiring presentations, debates and ideas from the conference, including a powerful and moving address from Justice Albie Sachs of the Constitutional Court of South Africa. He spoke about the fundamental role that human rights are playing there in bringing people together and shaping a far more equal society. The report highlights the issues raised by delegates, including the significant potential for human rights to be used to tackle inequality and promote a more cohesive society, and the need to combat negative media stories about human rights if this is to be realised. Download the report.

You can also download our briefing on the new Equality and Human Rights Commission and what it will do for our human rights.

Human Rights and the Voluntary and Community Sector

In November 2006 BIHR and the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) co-hosted a consultative roundtable entitled ‘Human Rights and the Voluntary and Community Sector’. The event was attended by a wide range of voluntary and community sector leaders. Download the report of the meeting, which provides an overview of the key areas of discussion, issues and recommendations that arose.

In December 2006 representatives from London’s voluntary and community sector came together at a free consultation event to discuss their relationship with the Commission for Equality and Human Rights and suggest key regional priorities. This event was organised by Race on the Agenda, the London Civic Forum, the London Voluntary Services Council and BIHR. Download the report from this consultation.

Publications

New report by BIHR: The Human Rights Act – Changing Lives

Seven years on from the introduction of the Human Rights Act, a new report from the British Institute of Human Rights challenges the perception that the law is being used solely by criminals or celebrities.

The Human Rights Act - Changing Lives shows how people from different backgrounds are using human rights arguments to challenge shoddy treatment from public services without having to go to court. Download the report.

Human Rights in Healthcare – A Framework for Local Action

BIHR has been working in collaboration with the Department of Health and five pilot NHS Trusts to produce ‘Human Rights in Healthcare – A Framework for Local Action’, which is available to download. This framework will assist NHS Trusts to put human rights into action in their daily work of planning and delivering health services. Read more about our health project.

BIHR newsletter – summer 2007

The Summer 2007 BIHR Brief is a special ‘bumper’ edition to mark our first annual conference, 'Human rights visions of equality' which took place on 18 June 2007. This edition features articles by many of the speakers and participants at the conference.

Read the newsletter »