Weekly Human Rights News: 08-09-23

This week, we welcomed two new additions to our team, Annie and Charlotte. Both will be joining BIHR as Senior Human Rights Officers, working across our policy and programmes to make human rights real in the UK.

Charlotte has a postgraduate degree in Law and previously worked as a modern slavery advocate providing frontline services to survivors of human trafficking in London through the National Referral Mechanism. She has worked on research and events for people with lived experience of accessing the service and implementing policy coproduced with the service.

Annie is a Social Worker who has previously worked with BIHR as a Human Rights Officer and is also Delivery Lead on the Community-Led Support programme at NDTi – a social change organisation working to enable people at risk of exclusion, due to age or disability, to live the life they choose.

We are offering a two-part lunchtime series on Human Rights in Practice for public officials working in health and social care across the UK. The first event will be on 27th September and the second on 11th October. The first session will cover human rights in health and social care settings and how we can support staff to make change in practice while the second session will be an opportunity to reflect, ask questions and discuss making rights real with likeminded colleagues.

Local Government Association is the national voice of local government, working with councils to support, promote and improve local government. On Friday 8^th September, Head of Policy and Programmes Carlyn and Lived Experience Expert Kirsten delivered a specialist webinar for members. The session focused on the Human Rights Act and least restrictive care.

The European Convention on Human Rights turned 70!

Sunday 3rd September marked the 70th anniversary of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The Convention provided the foundation for the UK’s Human Rights Act, which protects the rights of everyone in the UK. The Council of Europe, the body responsible for the Convention, shared 12 stories of the Convention in action to mark the anniversary.

Find out more about the ECHR in our explainer

The Northern Ireland Troubles Bill will become law

The Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill will go before the House of Lords next week before receiving royal assent (sign off from the King) and becoming law. The Bill has been criticised by a number of Civil Society groups, including the Law Society of Northern Ireland, who said it “opposes the denial of access to justice for victims and survivors and considers that this is incompatible with Article 2 ECHR (right to life).”

Source: BBC News