Weekly Human Rights News: 23/05/25

This week, we delivered a human rights workshop to Community Plan 4 Holloway (CP4H)’s Youth Research Project as part of the London Communities Programme. The youth project focuses on highlighting the views of young people around the a new building development happening in their community,

In the workshop, we spoke about how the right to respect for private and family life, home and correspondence under Article 8 of the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) gives young people a right to have a say over decisions that impact their lives. We also spoke about how the Article 14 right to be free from discrimination means that their views should not be ignored because of their age. We then mapped their concerns and needs to some of the rights in the HRA to help them see how they can use the legal language of rights practically to address their concerns and to have their voices heard.

We are really pleased to welcome Carlyn Miller our Head of Policy and Programmes back from maternity leave. It is lovely to have you back with us Carlyn. We are also really pleased that our Delivery Team Senior Manager Emily Malcolm, who has been providing maternity cover, will still be with us until the end of June to ensure a smooth hand over period.

Joint Committee on Human Rights published its report on Mental Health Bill

The Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR)  released their report on the Mental Health Bill on Monday 19^th May. This report sets out their recommendations to the UK Government.

The report welcomes the Government’s attempt to bring the legal framework up to date but focuses on areas of the bill that raise human rights concerns or could be improved to provide more protection for human rights.

One of the recommendations in the report is that

“The Mental Health Bill should be amended to ensure that the Human Rights Act, and the protection it provides, applies whenever people receive publicly funded mental health treatment or after–care, or are deprived of their liberty on mental health grounds. This protection should not depend on whether or not the provider itself is public or private.”

This recommendation refers to a commitment made by the Government to address (when the bill goes to the House of Commons) Baroness Keeley and Baroness Barker’s withdrawn amendment to change the Mental Health Bill to include a clause that would extend human rights protections in the circumstances set out above.  BIHR asked the JCHR to support these proposed changes in their written evidence to the committee.

The report also emphasises the importance of hearing from people with direct experience of detention and treatment under the Mental Health Act. The report refers to a roundtable event at which Committee members and staff heard from people with personal experience of the mental health system in the UK. BIHR and RITES Committee members were at this event and some of the key concerns shared at the event are directly referenced in the report.

Read the full report

Find out more about BIHR’s evidence to the JCHR and the roundtable event

Read LinkedIn posts about the report from our CEO Sanchita and Charli, one of our lived experience experts.

Read more about who has duties under the HRA

The Mental Health Bill had its second reading in the House of Commons

The Mental Health Bil (MHB) had its second reading in the House of Commons on Monday 19^th of May. You can read the debate here.  The House of Commons Public Bill Committee will begin line by line scrutiny of the bill from 9^th June. The Committee are now receiving written evidence and encourage this to be sent to them as soon as possible. You can submit your written evidence by emailing June.

Read the MHB call for evidence

ECHR opened a consultation on their code of practice for services, public functions and association

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (ECHR) have opened a consultation on their changes to the code of practice for services, public functions and associations. This consultation aims to gather feedback on changes the ECHR have made following the UK Supreme Court ruling on 16 April 2025 in For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers (For Women Scotland). The Supreme Court ruling said that the definition of sex in the Equality Act 2010 (the Act) means (and has always meant)  ‘biological’ sex, not ‘certificated’ sex according to a Gender Recognition Certificate. This is about protecting people’s rights to non-discrimination on the basis of sex, gender reassignment, and sexual orientation under the Equality Act.

The EHRC’s code of practice includes practical guidance for service providers, associations and those delivering public functions on how they should comply with the Act. It was drafted before the ruling and therefore some of the information in it has changed and the EHRC are consulting on these changes. The EHRC are only consulting on parts of the code that are affected by the ruling.

You can respond to the consultation by filling a survey, emailing correspondence@equalityhumanrights.com or by phoning 0161 829 8100, The consultation will close on 30^th June 2025.

Find out more about the consultation and proposed changes