Human Rights & CCTV Cameras in Care

Every person who receives care, should be safe, treated with dignity and respect, and supported to live a fulfilling and equal life. It's in these everyday situations where our human rights can have most meaning for each of us. Services have legal duties under our Human Rights Act to protect us from harm, to respect our choices, uphold our wellbeing and to not discriminate against us. Sadly, we know this does not always happen, cultures of neglect and abuse persist, and this breaches people's human rights. There are repeated examples of this affecting people with learning disabilities, and autistic people, and we must call this out as an abuse of human rights. This is what our CEO, Sanchita, told ITV news for yesterday's story following Lindsay Foskett and Sylvia Siddique, who are calling for mandatory cameras in all care settings after cameras revealed the abuse experienced by their disabled sons Connor and Mikey.

In some situations, CCTV cameras within care will be a proportionate restriction on people's privacy rights, especially when there is a need to take action because the person's absolute right to be free from harm is at risk. In other situations, particularly where there is no risk of harm, the blanket use of CCTV cameras may be highly distressing for people, essentially subjecting them to continual monitoring in the places they call home.

The human rights framework provides us with the tools to confront abuse and hold services to account not simply because it's right but because it's the law; and it allows us to recognise each person's situation, and ensure their privacy is respected. Using our Human Rights Act means taking everyone into account.

You can find out more about taking a human rights approach to the use of surveillance and monitoring in everyday situations, like health and care, in our joint resources with the Restraint Reduction Network, including:

Explainer: ‘Surveillance: A restrictive practice and human rights issue’

A downloadable poster

A webinar on what a rights-based approach to surveillance looks like