Policy and Public Affairs

BIHR’s policy work has focused on three main areas over the last year:

defending and strengthening the UK Human Rights Act
working with Whitehall departments and other policy influencers to mainstream human rights into policymaking
promoting the importance of human rights based approaches for tackling inequality and disadvantage

BIHR Human Rights Policy Network

BIHR is launching a new Human Rights Policy Network for people who develop and influence policy with an interest in human rights. We would be interested to hear from ‘policy people’ in a wide range of organisations and sectors.

We are keen to develop and promote public policy that reflects the lived experiences and views of the most excluded and marginalised people and would particularly encourage involvement of those producing policy in this way.

If you are interested in joining this network, please send an email to policy@bihr.org.uk with your name, job title and organisation.

Recent Work

Specific pieces of work over this period include:

Our response to the Government’s Discrimination Law Review
Our response to the Joint Committee on Human Rights inquiry into a British Bill of Rights
A joint seminar with the Disability Rights Commission on independent living and human rights. Report coming soon.
We were a member of the Public Legal Education and Support (PLEAS) Task Force - read the summary and report on the PLEAS website
interventions in major human rights test cases. See our response to the House of Lords decision in the ‘public authority’ test case (YL v Birmingham City Council and others)
A submission to the JUSTICE Bill of Rights consultation
Our response to the CEHR draft vision and mission, emphasising the need for the CEHR mission to reflect the general duty in section 3 of the Equality Act (emphasising what the CEHR will do for people in the UK), the need for a clearer account of the relationship between human rights and equality, a clear statement that the CEHR will promote a culture of respect for human rights, and a more robust acknowledgement of the importance of the voluntary and community sector
Our submission to the Communities and Local Government Committee inquiry into equality
Our response to the Joint Committee on Human Rights inquiry into the human rights of adults with learning disabilities
a briefing in response to attacks on the Human Rights Act, showing the real benefits that human rights offer ‘ordinary people’ in the UK and society as a whole
a briefing on human rights and older people
briefing on the link between human rights and the ‘dignity in care’ agenda in the health sector
expert evidence to the UK courts on the practical impact of narrow legal interpretations of the scope of the Human Rights Act
ongoing engagement with the Equalities Review emphasising the benefits of using human rights to tackle inequality and disadvantage
work with the Equality and Diversity Forum (a network of UK equality and human rights organisations) to collate case studies illustrating how human rights have been used to protect people from discrimination and exclusion and a letter to Ruth Kelly, Secretary of State for Local Government and Communities, calling on her to champion the values in the Human Rights Act
a meeting, convened with Liberty, of human rights, equality and other organisations, to discuss attacks on the Human Rights Act and how to respond to them
an event on equalities and human rights at the Labour Party Conference co-hosted with the Government minister responsible for Women and Equality, together with Carers UK, the Equal Opportunities Commission, the Disability Rights Commission and with support from Stonewall
ongoing policy discussions to promote understanding of human rights with key public bodies including the Ministry of Justice, the Mental Health Act Commission, the Department of Health and the new Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)

Current Projects

BIHR is continuing to challenge the narrow legal interpretation of ‘public authority’ in the Human Rights Act 1998 (see BIHR’s submission to the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) for our latest contribution and the Annual Review 2005–06 for a summary of previous work). The current interpretation means that private residential care homes providing services under contract to local authorities are not covered by the Human Rights Act, meaning they are not required by law to respect residents’ human rights.

We have also worked to ensure that human rights underpin the work of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (see Annual Review 2005–06) for a summary of previous work). In October 2007, the new Equality and Human Rights Commission officially opened its doors. The new Commission has replaced the Commission for Racial Equality, the Disability Rights Commission and the Equal Opportunities Commission, and also has responsibility for the ‘new’ equality strands of sexual orientation, religion and belief, and age, as well as human rights.

See our policy briefings and research reports page for further details of:

Research Reports
Briefing Papers
Fact Sheets
Policy and Evidence Submissions
Public Letters

Policy and Public Affairs

BIHR is currently considering how best to build on our previous achievements to further develop our policy, research and external affairs work.

This will involve continuing to build a strong human rights evidence-base together with the Development and Training team, providing analysis, developing policy recommendations and positions, and communicating these to policymakers and the media, in collaboration with partners where possible. Specific research projects may also be developed where existing evidence in relation to human rights practice is weak. This will include an action research project that examines the impact of using human rights based approaches to tackle social exclusion.

If your organisation would be interested in collaborating with us on policy or research, or if you would like further information, please contact our Policy and Research Officer, Sonya Sceats, on 020 7848 1817 or ssceats@bihr.org.uk.