Weekly Human Rights News: 02/05/2025

In March and April this year, we worked with senior mental health practitioners across a range of organisations to help them to navigate the Mental Health Act through the lens of their human rights legal duties. Over three online workshops, we explored how the Human Rights Act creates accountability amongst mental health service providers, and provides a practical framework for decision-making to ensure that people accessing support have their rights respected, protected and fulfilled.

 Through our evaluation, we saw some key impacts for course participants:

• Before the first workshop, only 59% of participants said they were supportive of the HRA. However, by the final workshop 100% said they were supportive of the HRA.
• Throughout the workshops, participants reported an increase to their confidence to use the HRA in their work, with an average rating of 3.3 out of 5 beforehand and 4.1 out of 5 after the training.
• Participants considered the steps they would take to embed their learning. Answers included working closely with advocates, and creating and sharing resources to help people accessing mental health services to understand and claim their rights.

One participant said: “I now feel more positive about [the Human Rights Act] because I have a clearer understanding of how to use it effectively. The programme has equipped me with the tools and knowledge to apply the Act in a way that can truly support and protect the rights of individuals, and that has made me more confident in advocating for human rights.”

BIHR’s Head of Policy and Programmes Carlyn Miller was on the interview panel for the recruitment of Greater Manchester trust. If you are interested in working together with BIHR to establish a Human Rights Officer role in your own trust or organisation or would like to organise some human rights training and development please get in touch with us at training@bihr.org.uk

The House of Lords Constitution Committee recently ran an enquiry on the rule of law and the way it works in the UK. They wanted to hear evidence on what the rule of law means, how well it is understood and what can be done to strengthen it. We sent in evidence drawing on our work with individuals, community groups, public body workers and policymakers from all over the country. You can now read a summary of our response, including our seven key recommendations and quotes from the people we've worked with, on our website. 

The European Court of Human Rights elected a new president

On Monday 28th April, Mattias Guyomar was elected as the new President of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). The ECtHR is made up of 46 judges – one from each member state (including the UK). The President of the ECtHR is elected by the other judges and holds the position for three years, during which time they’re responsible for the day-to-day running of the court.

Source: ECtHR

You can read more about the European Convention on Human Rights and the ECtHR in our plain-language explainer.

Call for evidence to mark world Autism Acceptance Day

The House of Lords Committee on the Autism Act 2009 have launched a call for evidence. The Committee wants to understand how well the Autism Act, the Government’s autism strategy and the statutory guidance are working so that it can make specific, practical recommendations about what the Government should do next.

The committee is seeking evidence on key questions about how to improve support for autistic people.

The deadline to respond is Monday 2^nd June. You can submit your written evidence online or by sending a document or voice recording to: HLAutismAct2009@parliament.uk