In autumn and winter 2011, the British Institute of Human Rights took human rights to town halls and community centres across the country. BIHR’s Human Rights Tour, ‘Making Human Rights Happen’, visited 16 cities (+1, with the last-minute, special request addition of Lincoln!)  over 16 weeks, to celebrate the 16 rights protected by the Human Rights Act, with just under 1000 people attending in total.

“ … the real value was that it helped show that using human rights effectively is not as difficult as it can appear. Events like this remind me of the reasons why I do the job I do.” Advocate, Birmingham

The Human Rights Tour 2011 - Making Human Rights Happen

BIHR has evidence from our outreach work that human rights knowledge is powerful in the hands of individuals and organisations challenging poor services and discrimination as well as being an effective tool for public sector workers. Despite this, awareness of human rights, and specifically the Human Rights Act (HRA), is worryingly low. In addition to that, regular attacks by parts of the media and certain politicians are creating confusion and concern about human rights. To help shift the debate we decided to engage as many people as possible in a conversation on human rights, and we decided that a tour of the UK was a great way to find out what people really think and understand about human rights.

What we learned:

There is an enormous appetite in the UK, both in the voluntary and public sectors, to learn about human rights and to be empowered to introduce human rights at work and at home. This is much needed at the moment, with the social and economic challenges the country is now facing and the discussions being undertaken at the heart of Government in relation to the future of human rights and the work being conducted by the Commission on a Bill of Rights.

Disability groups told us that they would raise the Human Rights Act in their advocacy and use it to challenge cuts to disability allowances; health professionals stated that the Human Rights Act would support them to challenge decisions at a higher level; and participants in general told us that knowledge of the Human Rights Act would assist them in their own struggles for better treatment, better care, and greater involvement in decision-making which affects them. It was clear that, once explained, the Human Rights Act could be a tool for maintaining dignity at all levels of public services.

Participants’ key messages:

The tour events created a great opportunity for healthy debate about the relevance and importance of human rights at a local and regional level, and focusing on the Human Rights Act enabled participants to grasp its practical use and effectiveness. We saw how human rights can empower people, enabling them to frame issues in human rights terms, with a shift in focus ‘from needs to rights’.

Common themes arose during the tour, including: concern about budget cuts and their impact on the most vulnerable; the over-stretching, and/or scaling-back, of public services; myriad issues around health and social care-provision; the treatment and care of older people; the need for a greater awareness and understanding of human rights in the public sector, and indeed at all levels of society; and an appetite to build regional forums and communities of human rights champions.

BIHR’s next steps:

Discussion at the tour events covered the full spectrum of issues that BIHR’s work relates to, including: BME communities; health and social care; LGBT communities; mental health; older people; poverty and homelessness; public sector spending cuts; race; refugees and asylum seekers; and much more. We are delighted to hear that many participants, for the first time, have started discussing human rights-centred issues in their workplaces and are referring to BIHR's reports and case studies to support their work. BIHR will also be feeding comments, case studies, and feedback from the tour events into our project and campaigning work.

Here’s what some delegates had to say:

“I came in feeling nervous and am leaving feeling empowered” Bristol, 15 September

“I finally feel more confident about tackling human rights in my organisation and making it part of ‘business as usual’ instead of something to be scared of.” Norwich, 1 November

“Knowledge and understanding of the HRA gives an additional tool when challenging public authorities on behalf of those unable to challenge themselves. It ensures a more equal, fair, and just society. LET’S KEEP THE HRA INTACT.” Mold, 9 November

“The UK should be proud of its attitude to Human Rights and the Human Rights Act. Watering down, repealing, or changing the legislation, will be a retrograde step.” Plymouth 21 November

“I think I now have the knowledge and confidence to counter some/all of the negative comments made about human rights.” London, 13 December

BIHR’s work:

If you are interested in finding out more about our work, there are a number of documents and links on our website which may be useful.
Our website homepage can be found at http://www.bihr.org.uk
We also have a micro-site dedicated to our work on Health and Human Rights at http://www.bihr.org.uk/groups

Documents that you may find interesting:

Our voluntary and community sector guide to using international human rights can be accessed here.
Our interactive, online toolkit on the HRA can be accessed here.

A BIHR and EDF Report on Human Rights and Equality in the Voluntary Sector can be accessed here.

BIHR co-authored a human rights measurement framework with LSE on behalf of the Equality and Human Rights Commission to assess progress towards human rights. Find out more here.
 

Thank you!

BIHR would like to thank all of you who participated in the 2011 Human Rights Tour and made it such an enormous success. Please keep your eyes peeled for news of the 2012 tour. Many thanks to those of you who volunteered and presented at an event, and many thanks to the fantastic organisations who assisted, supported, and partnered with us.

Visit the webpage for BIHR's 2012 Human Rights Tour by following this link.