Changing the Face of Human Rights: Workshop Sessions

The five morning workshop sessions will be repeated in the afternoon to allow all delegates to attend two different sessions of the five below.

1. Public attitudes to human rights and how can we address the myths?
Speakers: Kamal Ahmed, Equality and Human Rights Commission, Ben Jackson, Associate Director, Forster For Change,  Kully Kaur-Ballagan, Ipsos MORI, Jiwan Raheja, Ministry of Justice

Polling data shows that there is some confusion above human rights in the public sphere and that myths and misperceptions are rife. This workshop aims to examine and challenge some of these prevailing public attitudes towards human rights. There will be several presentations on a range of data exploring public attitudes and perceptions, followed by a response from an organisation specialising in marketing/campaigning. This will be the catalyst for an interactive debate with workshop participants exploring current attitudes, their implications and potential strategies.

2. What do 'rights' look like? How the arts can be used to represent and promote human rights
Speakers: Professor Liam Kennedy (University College Dublin), Christine Bacon (Actors for Human Rights) Deborah Kingsland (Documentary Filmmakers Group), Monica Ross (Artist)

What role can the arts play in presenting, promoting and facilitating understanding of human rights? Participants will be encouraged to think about how they can use the arts to communicate their own work. This workshop will feature short performances by Amber Agar (Actors for Human Rights) and Monica Ross.

3. Effective human rights campaigning
Speakers: Sabina Frediani (Campaigns Manager, Liberty), Professor Ivor Gaber (City University London)

Prioritising issues for campaigning and deciding how to present them is challenging and at times controversial. This session will examine how human rights campaigns feed into the bigger picture to foster a culture of human rights, and will provide participants with key tips on how to make campaigns effective.

4. From needs to rights- can human rights language empower people experiencing poor treatment in and/or exclusion from public services?
Speakers: Lindsey Dyer (Director, Service Users and Carers, Mersey Care NHS Trust), Cath Mills (Chair, Service User and Carer Forum, Mersey Care NHS Trust), Mary O'Reilly (Member, Service User and Carer Forum, Mersey Care NHS Trust)

BIHR's work with the public and third sectors has generated significant evidence that human rights ideas and language can be used to empower both users of public services and public sector staff, to challenge and improve poor treatment and raise standards for all. This session will present the perspectives of public service providers and service users who have been pioneering this work and discuss the opportunities and challenges to further progress.

5. Rights, Responsibilities and a new Bill of Rights
Speakers: Peter Facey (Director, Unlock Democracy), Professor Francesca Klug (Professorial Research Fellow, LSE and Commissioner on the Equality and Human Rights Commission), Edward Adams (Head of Human Rights Division, Ministry of Justice), Edward Waller, UNICEF

The major political parties are currently framing human rights in terms of ‘rights and responsibilities' and this is reflected in proposals for a new Bill of Rights which makes explicit the link to responsibilities. This session will provide participants, including representatives from the voluntary and community sector, with the opportunity to assess the relationship between rights and responsibility and to learn more about and get involved in the bill of rights debate, as well as providing a space to assess the relationship between rights and responsibility.

 

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