This week, we went along to the quarterly meeting of our London Communities Human Rights Programme, run jointly with Just Fair. As we have now reached the end of the first year of the programme, we took the opportunity to celebrate all the things we have achieved throughout the programme.

The four community groups, Indoamerican Refugee and Migrant Organisation, Southall Community Alliance, Community Plan for Holloway, and Unfold shared the positive impact that using human rights in their communities has already had. From members of their community feeling empowered by the Human Rights Act to speak up about changes in their community, to having staff and volunteers using the language of human rights in their work, it is exciting to see so much positive change after only one year of working together.

We were also joined by our learning partner, The Social Investment Consultancy, who ran a session on how we can track our human rights journey throughout the programme.

As we head into the second year of the programme, it was inspiring to look at what we have already achieved, and to look ahead at the projects and opportunities for positive change in year 2. The partners shared many of these successes using human rights at our summer event last week in London, including:

• securing changes to school admission policies that marginalised children due to their immigration status,
• the building of community networks based on the power of the law,
• empowering young people to speak up and shape local policies about housing, and
• increased participation in the development of our partner organisation’s approaches to the support they deliver to communities.

In 2024, and as part of our UK-wide community programme, we worked closely with Cwm Taf People First, a charity run by and for people with learning disabilities, to co-create a human rights card game. The game was created in Easy Read, as a fun way for people to learn more about their human rights. It features stories provided by Cwm Taf People First, with information about important rights in the Human Rights Act for people with a learning disability.

Last week, Community Living Magazine, a digital magazine promoting inclusion and equality and challenging assumptions about learning disabilities, published an article about the game. The article covers the process of making the game together, what it includes, and how the game can be played. The article features contributions from members of Cwm Taf People First who shared their thoughts on the importance of having fun and accessible ways to learn about human rights. BIHR’s CEO, Sanchita Hosali, also reflected on the value of increasing awareness of human rights to hold public power to account amidst planned changes to welfare in the UK.

Working with Cwm Taf People First to create the human rights card game was an exciting experience, and it Is great to see the impact the game is already having. The game will have an official launch at Cwm Taf People First’s annual VIVA Fest in Newport, Wales in August.

The UK Government published a 10-year health plan for England

On 3 July, the UK Government’s Department of Health and Social Care published a policy paper announcing a 10-year ‘Health Plan for England’. This sets out three main changes it plans to make to the NHS.

The plan says the UK Government will introduce a Neighbourhood Health Service, with the aim of supporting local, preventative care in the community, and relieving pressure on hospitals. It also says there will be a shift towards using digital technology, with patients being able to use the NHS app more often, including to book remote or face-to-face appointments. And the final change is ‘from sickness to prevention’, aiming to work with a range of organisations to improve health on a national scale.

The UK Government and all statutory health and social care services, including GPs and hospitals, have legal duties to respect, protect and fulfil the human rights of every person drawing on their services. Find out more about how the Human Rights Act applies in health, care and social work, including which rights are most relevant in these contexts.

Read the UK Government’s 10 Year Health Plan for England.

The 10 Year Health Plan is available in Easy Read here.

New data about Home Office wrongly treating child refugees as adults

The Helen Bamber Foundation published data this week showing that the Home Office has been wrongly assessing children coming to the UK seeking protection, as adults. Through Freedom of Information Act requests, they found that in 2024 90 local authorities in England and Scotland received 1,335 referrals to their children’s services departments of young people who were claiming to be children, but had been sent to adult accommodation or detention. 56% of cases where a person’s age had been determined were found to be children, meaning that at least 678 children had been wrongly placed in adult accommodation or detention at significant risk.

The Home Office has a legal duty under the Human Rights Act to protect, or safeguard, the human rights of everyone they interact with. If a child is wrongly placed in adult services, this could put them at risk of serious harm, risking the right to be free from inhuman and degrading treatment, protected by Article 3 of the Human Rights Act.

The Helen Bamber Foundation calls on the Home Office to acknowledge this issue, publish its own data on age disputes, ensure that border officials only dispute a child’s claimed age in exceptional circumstances.

Read the report from the Helen Bamber Foundation.