03.07.25
Carlyn Miller, Head of Policy & Programmes


Imagine being a parent of an autistic child told you can’t visit them as they are in seclusion with no review scheduled. Imagine seeking asylum in the UK and having your phone (your only means of family contact) taken off you in a detention centre indefinitely. Imagine knowing there was a consultation which could limit your rights but not being able to take part as there was no Easy Read version. Imagine arriving in the UK as part of the Afghan resettlement scheme following years of trauma in your home country and having the police arrive at your home unannounced.

Now, imagine there was a place all of these people could go to for human rights advice, support and guidance. Sounds good, doesn’t it? But how could that organisation meet the demand? How big would it need to be to answer the phone and offer 1-2-1 bespoke support every time a person’s rights were at risk? How would it hold the trust of diverse communities? What would happen if that organisation collapsed?

Next, imagine that human rights organisation focused on community capacity building instead. Imagine the parent was informed to challenge the seclusion directly citing the right to liberty and to then share that knowledge on Parent and Carer Networks. Imagine that person seeking asylum or an advocate was able to challenge the blanket phone removal policy through knowledge of the right to peaceful enjoyment of possessions. Imagine the learning-disabled community was empowered to campaign to demand the Government produce an Easy Read version and provide a deadline extension to ensure parity under the right to free from discrimination? Imagine the resettled family felt able to challenge the police access to their home under the right to private, family life, home and correspondence?

Now, imagine each of these communities were further resourced to produce human rights resources and tools bespoke to the issues affecting them. Imagine these resources were made available in the places and spaces people in that community access. Imagine these groups were resourced with space and time to come together, to bring others in, share, learn, and mobilises for further positive change. This is Human Rights Act Advocacy, this is what’s possible. How do we know? Because we did all of this with funding set aside for this work.

Finally, imagine the next time the Government try to roll back on domestic or international human rights protections. Imagine people in communities across the UK understood immediately how this would impact their lives and were ready with the knowledge, resources, confidence and solidarity to resist. 

Knowing our rights isn’t just about knowledge, it’s about power.  It’s not about one decision (although this matters too), it’s about disrupting systems and structures. It’s about social justice, racial justice and equity.  It can’t be achieved by human rights organisations alone nor can it be achieved by communities without the legal knowledge and expertise and it doesn’t just happen.

We know from data from the Joint Committee on Human Rights that “43 % of adults in the UK know very little to nothing about human rights law”. At BIHR, we know from many years doing this work that building sustainable human rights knowledge, confidence, capacity and resilience especially with minoritised communities takes time, resource and long-term commitment. Imagine we had more of that.