Our Strategic Focus

At BIHR we are focused on promoting a culture of respect for human rights across the UK, with a strong focus on enabling the implementation of the Human Rights Act outside of court settings. Our 2020-2025 Strategic Framework outlines our commitment to empowering individuals, supporting communities, improving public systems, and influencing policy through human rights advocacy and approaches.

OUR VISION

BIHR’s vision is of a strong and just society, in which all people can live well and flourish, safe in the knowledge that their human rights are being respected, protected, and fulfilled in their local communities and at the national level.

OUR MISSION

Our mission is to enable positive social change through the practical use of our Human Rights Act, working with people, communities, public bodies, and policymakers across the UK.

 

Image of a young disabled woman in a wheelchair, smiling, looking at her phone. Slightly blurred background, indoors.

Strategic Aim 1:

Empowering Individuals

We provide, often co-produced, practical tools and information to help people advocate for their rights in everyday situations, ensuring they can effectively reply on their protections in our Human Rights Act without needing to resort to legal action.

 

Access our human rights advocacy resources & information

Strategic Aim 2:

Supporting Communities

We strengthen the capacity of community, advocacy and voluntary groups to make best use of human rights advocacy, equipping them with the knowledge and resources to implement the Human Rights Act in their local contexts and positively address the marginalisation faced by the people they support. 

Our work with communities, advocates & grassroot groups

Photo of a support worker, looking at items on a desk with a child and her father.

Strategic Aim 3:

Improving Systems

We work to enhance the accountability of public bodies to uphold human rights as required by Human Rights Act in all their actions and prevent violations before they occur, providing access to practical support in using human rights approaches.

Our work with public bodies and services

Strategic Aim 4:

Experience informed policy change

We amplify the voices of those we support to, together with practical Human Rights Act analysis, to influence laws and policies that affect people’s rights, to bring about systemic change.

Our Policy Projects

Our Internal Strategic Aim 5: A Vibrant BIHR

At BIHR, we are committed to sustaining and developing our charity into a vibrant and ambitious organisation capable of delivering on our mission. Our ethos extends beyond the "London bubble," leveraging a diverse team of experts in the practical use of human rights law and collaboration across the UK. We face challenges typical of small charities, particularly in securing sustainable funding. Our internal 5th Strategic Aim focuses on expanding our funding base, enhancing our talented team, improving internal systems for efficiency, and developing our governance further to ensure we meet the evolving needs of the communities and stakeholders we support, enable and influence to better uphold human rights.

Our Theory of Change

Our 2020-2025 Strategic Framework is underpinned by our organisational commitment to BIHR’s role as the organisation supporting people, communities, public bodies, and policymakers to deliver a culture of respect for human rights across the UK.

BIHR focuses on change through the practical use of the Human Rights Act, beyond the courts. We produce the tools and supports that people need to use the law to resolve situations. This is about preventing poor public services and policy and challenging and changing decisions when things have gone wrong.

At the heart of each of our strategic aims is our commitment to bring about collaborative change through the use of human rights advocacy and approaches to change policy and practice. We seek to achieve change through human rights at 4 key levels - people, communities, public bodies and policymakers - underpinned by a vibrant BIHR

Who we work with and where

We work across the UK, with communities and public services in all four nations -England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Our model emphasises working within and across communities, building on place-based strengths while fostering solidarity across various issues, because human rights are universal.

Through our work we aim to prevent poor public decision-making that risks people’s human rights, whether locally or nationally, ultimately striving for a society where everyone’s rights, as protected by the Human Rights Act, are respected and upheld without the need for court intervention.

 

 

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