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"Your Human Rights" Guides
Latest news: Second edition of ‘Your Human Rights – a guide for older people’ – now available online.
"Your Human Rights" is a series of four plain English, non-technical guides focusing on the practical relevance of human rights in the UK. They are written directly for people living with mental health problems, disabled people, older people and refugees and asylum seekers who are in situations where they may need information on their human rights. They will also be useful for people working with these groups, or people who would like to know more about the impact of human rights on these groups.
The guides were published in 2006 and we are currently working on second editions. Please note that we have very few printed copies left of the guides and they are now only available in single copies for individuals. Please contact Lucy Bentley on lbentley@bihr.org.uk for copies. We are currently seeking funding to provide printed copies of the second editions.
The guides can be viewed via the links below.
The guides are also available in accessible formats:
- Electronic disk
- Audio tape (disabled people and older people guides only)
- French, Farsi and Arabic (refugees and asylum seekers guide only)
Please contact Lucy on lbentley@bihr.org.uk or 020 7549 0567 for electronic disk or audio tape versions.
We are very grateful to Comic Relief for funding this project. We are also very grateful to the Law Society for contributing towards the development of second editions of the guides.
A Guide for Older People (2nd Edition)
Your Human Rights - A Guide for Older People - 2nd edition
This guide provides practical information about human rights, and their relevance for older people. The second edition was published in 2010. It contains new case studies and updates, and incorporates feedback and comments on the first edition.
Local Healthwatch and Human Rights: what you need to know
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We’ve written to all the Local Healthwatch organisations, marking their launch at events across England today, sending them copies of our new guide “Local Healthwatch and Human Rights: what you need to know”. Find out more and download your copy.
Make Human Rights Happen: a guide for voluntary and community groups
"Make Human Rights Happen" is BIHR's inspiring new resource to help people put human rights into action in our communities. Explaining human rights in a fun and accessible way this new resource draws on real life examples from a range of groups.
Mental Health Advocacy and Human Rights: Your Guide
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BIHR is pleased to launch Mental Health Advocacy and Human Rights: Your Guide, our latest practical resource to help respect and protect the human rights of people with mental health problems. This guide has been produced with Mind Brighton and Hove, Wish and NSUN, three of the partner organisations involved in our Human Rights in Healthcare project.
Aimed at both advocates and people who use services, this handy guide explains how the Human Rights Act can be used in mental health settings to secure better treatment and care for people. It draws on real life stories of how laws and legal cases can be used in everyday advocacy practice, providing helpful flow-charts, worked through examples and top tips
Raising a Human Rights Issue: tips and tools
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BIHR have produced a step-by-step guide on how to identify and make a human rights challenge. It focuses on how to write letters raising human rights concerns but also covers more general points about what issues to highlight and important information to include. The guide offers practical, worked-through examples and should be useful for individuals and organisations looking for basic background information and assistance.
A Guide for Disabled People
Your Human Rights - A Guide for Disabled People
This guide provides practical information about human rights, and their relevance for disabled people.
A Guide for People Living with Mental Health Problems
Your Human Rights - A Guide for People Living with Mental Health Problems
This guide provides practical information about human rights, and their relevance to mental health.
A Guide for Refugees and Asylum Seekers
Your Human Rights - A Guide for Refugees and Asylum Seekers
This guide provides practical information about human rights, and their relevance for refugees and asylum seekers.
A voluntary and community sector guide to using international human rights
This guide provides voluntary and community sector organisations with information on how to use international human rights laws in creative and effective ways to transform the lives of the people they are working with and for. It has been produced by BIHR and the National Equality Partnership.
If you would prefer not to access the document online, a small amount of printed copies are available. You can request one by emailing info@bihr.org.uk
Human Rights in Your Community - online guide
BIHR is delighted to launch the ‘human rights in your community’ online guide, packed full of useful information for community groups and organisations to understand and use human rights in their daily work. The guide explains how human rights work and provides information on some specific human rights and how they relate to everyday situations. Case studies bring the information to life, providing solid examples of how to use human rights to bring about change. The guide is part of our three-year grassroots project, ‘human rights in the community’, funded by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). It includes some inspiring examples from the project’s own pilot organisations, which are putting human rights into action in interesting and innovative ways. Capacity Global, which promotes clean and healthy environments, has used their newly found knowledge on human rights to produce a human rights ‘photo-map’ of the environmental issues in their community, focusing on social housing and green space. The guide also includes useful tips and resources to get you going. Please tell us how you get on!
Right Here, Right Now - Teaching Citizenship through Human Rights
Right Here, Right Now: Teaching Citizenship through Human Rights is a free resource for Key Stage 3 citizenship teachers. The resource has been hugely popular and due to high demand another 1000 copies have just been printed. The resource aims to link the concept of universal human rights with everyday experiences and help teachers examine human rights issues such as identity and diversity with students as part of the new KS3 citizenship curriculum in secondary schools in England. The resource is part of the Human Rights in Schools project, which is a partnership between the Ministry of Justice, BIHR, Amnesty International UK and the Department for Children, Schools and Families.
Your Human Rights: A Pocket Guide for Carers
BIHR and N-compass North West jointly published a guide for carers on human rights.
The publication, produced as part of the Human Rights in the Community Project provides an overview of how human rights relate to people in a caring role, and how they can be used to stand up for the rights of carers and the rights of those who are cared for.
Download a copy of the guide here
Our human rights stories
Our Human Rights Stories. Read the remarkable stories of how the Human Rights Act is shaping lives around the UK. 
The British Institute of Human Rights is a registered charity (1101575) and registered company (4978121).
Registered office: School of Law, Queen Mary, University of London, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS