Weekly Human Rights News: 20/06/2025
This week we are sharing news of a World Refugee Day event, as well as marking Learning Disability Week by sharing some of the resources we have co-produced with self-advocates to support people with learning disabilities to use their human rights. We also share a decision by the Local Government Ombudsman over an unauthorised deprivation of liberty.
We are joining the Indoamerican Refugee and Migrant Organisation for their World Refugee Day Event
Friday 20 June marks World Refugee Day. First established in 2001 by the United Nations, the day was designed to honour refugees around the world. As part of a day of different events such as yoga, Bolivian Folkloric dancing, and a documentary screening, the Indoamerican Refugee and Migrant Organisation (IRMO) will be running a human rights workshop to talk about how rights are relevant to people in their community. BIHR are excited to be supporting IRMO in-person with the delivery of this workshop.
IRMO is a community organisation based in London that provides frontline services and advocacy Latin Americans and Spanish and Portuguese-speaking migrants, including asylum seekers and refugees, as they settle and build their lives in the UK. We are supporting them as part of our five-year London Communities Programme to use human rights-based approaches in their work.
Read more about the London Communities Programme Read more about World Refugee Day
News from elsewhere
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGO) has upheld a complaint around a deprivation of liberty (DoL) that was unauthorised. The case was raised by Mrs X, whose sister, Ms Y, has a learning disability. Ms Y had lived in a care home for many years with a Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) authorisation in place. The care home then de-registered and became supported living accommodation, but Ms Y continued to be subject to conditions that amounted to a DoL.
As supported living falls out of the DoLS scope, any deprivations of liberty would have needed to be authorised by the Court of Protection, but this authorisation did not take place. Mrs X repeatedly raised the unauthorised DoL for her sister with the supported living provider, but no action was taken to address this between June 2023 and August 2024.
In its decision, the LGO said that the local Council was at fault for failing to make an application to the Court of Protection to authorise a DoL. In their decision, the LGO raised the right to liberty, protected by Article 5 of the Human Rights Act 1998, stating that “authorising the deprivation of someone’s liberty is an important part of the human rights framework, which ensure people are not illegally deprived of their freedom.”
The right to liberty is a non-absolute right, meaning it can be limited so long as it is lawful, for a good (listed) reason, and if it is proportionate. Deprivations of Liberty may be necessary to keep people safe, but in order to be rights respecting, they must be applied by going through the correct legal processes and safeguards.
Read the full decision by the Local Government Ombudsman Read more about Deprivation of Liberty and Human Rights
This week marks Learning Disability Week
Learning Disability Week is an annual event organised by Mencap and this year the theme is "Do you see me?" - all about making sure that people with a learning disability are seen, heard, included, and valued in all aspects of life.
Throughout our multi-year community programme, supported by Baring Foundation, we've worked with self-advocates from across the UK to co-produce resources that help people with learning disabilities speak up for their human rights.
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With Warrington Speak Up, we created a set of Easy Read postcards that cover key human rights and explain how they apply to everyday life through stories and actions.
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With My Life My Choice, we created an accessible resource for people with learning disabilities who have been placed in long stay hospitals either unnecessarily or for too long.
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With All Wales People First, we created an Easy Read guide for self-advocates to support them to have conversations about human rights.
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With Cwm Taf People First, we created an Easy Read human rights card game called the Game of Rights.
These resources have since been shared far and wide and we've had great feedback from the programme participants in terms of both the resources themselves and the process of making them. As one participant explained, "I am proud that I had the chance to do this and that people really listened to what we had to say. It is important we get to do more things like this in the future and that people with disabilities are included.”
Find all the resources and more information about our co-production process
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