The Human Rights Act (HRA) is a vital safety net for us all, protecting the fundamental freedoms of everyone in society. It is particularly important for people in vulnerable situations, including people with mental health or mental capacity problems, who are often denied their basic human rights. The cruelty of cases such as Winterbourne View has highlighted the indifference and abuse that people with capacity issues can be subjected to within health and social care settings. They are sobering reminders of how, when we are placed in situations where others have power over us there is potential for that power to be abused or misused which engage our most basic human rights.

There are lots of situations in everyday life where knowing about human rights can help improve people's lives, empowering them to make decisions, ensuring inclusion and participation in the community, and providing vital legal protections. BIHR's project work and resources help to raise awareness and support people to put human rights into practice, check out our Human Rights in Healthcare projects.

The HRA places legal duties on public authorities - including healthcare services, local authorities and social services - to respect, protect and fulfil people’s human rights in their day-to-day practice. This includes in the way they make decisions and exercise their powers and functions under different laws, such as the Mental Capacity Act and Mental Health Act. In some cases the HRA may also require positive action to protect rights. This can include protecting a person when they are known to be at risk of having certain rights abused and having the right procedures and systems in place to protect our rights. Check out our Mental Health Advocacy Guide for more information.

Our policy work also highlights how the Human Rights Act provides an important yardstick to measure how well mental health law, policy and practice is meeting people's basic human rights.

Read more about our policy work on mental health and mental capacity here:

• The Mental Capacity Act (Amendment) Bill and human rights (April 2019)

• BIHR comments: Involvement of the courts in end of life decisions where patients lack capacity to express views due to prolonged disorder of consciousness (Aug 2018)

• BIHR comments: The Mental Capacity Amendment Bill: will it protect people's human rights? (July 2018)

• BIHR comments: The Learning Disabilities Mortality Review Annual Report (May 2018)

• BIHR chairs a session of the National Care Forum Conference on human rights in care services (April 2018)

• BIHR comments: a human rights spotlight on mental health services from the Ombudsman (March 2018)

• BIHR coordinates 14 organisations to respond to the Joint Committee on Human Rights Inquiry into Reforms of the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (Jan 2018)

• BIHR's Response to the Mental Capacity Act Committee Call for Evidence
• BIHR's Unofficial Guide to the Mental Capacity Act Committee Call for Evidence