The introduction of the Human Rights Act had significant implications for local government, but since then there has been relatively little awareness raising or capacity building on human rights at local government level. BIHR has been commissioned by the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) to explore the added value which a human rights perspective may bring to local authorities. We shall work closely with 5 pilot local authorities and with IDeA over the course of just over a year to incorporate human rights principles directly into different areas of local government, and to draw out learning.
The project has been inspired by 3 years of similar work carried out by BIHR together with the Department of Health (see the Human Rights in Healthcare project), and has been designed with the following aims in mind:
- To carry out 5 short-term projects in different local authorities, each lasting about 6 months. The projects will address particular areas where a human rights based approach is likely to have an impact - for example, housing, social care, education, minorities, planning, environment etc.
- To draw out general recommendations on a human rights policy for local authorities. These will be derived from the experience in the pilot regions and will be built into a report at the end of the project which will outline key successes and learning points.
- To disseminate the benefits for local authorities of incorporating human rights into policy and practice. The results of the work in pilot regions will form the basis for two learning events for representatives from local authorities. These will take place towards the end of 2010.
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The British Institute of Human Rights is a registered charity (1101575) and registered company (4978121).