At BIHR, we work across the whole range of internationally defined human rights. We use the power of our domestic legislation, the Human Rights Act, to bring these rights to life in people's every day lives.


Ensuring people are treated with dignity and respect by those with public power underpins our commitment to putting universal human rights at the heart of people's everyday experiences across the UK.

The UK's Human Rights Act brings protections from the European Convention on Human Rights into our law, and created domestic legal duties to secure their implementation. Traditionally these rights have been seen as civil and political. However, as the European Court of Human rights has noted: 

"The mere fact that an interpretation of the Convention may extend into the sphere of social and economic rights should not be a decisive factor against such an interpretation; there is no watertight division separating that sphere from the field covered by the Convention."

A significant proportion of BIHR's work focuses on areas traditionally seen as economic and social, such as health, housing, care provision and social support.

We believe the potential of the Human Rights Act, to enable people to flourish across all aspects of their lives, has not yet been realised. We are committed to enabling people to make the best use of their protections and the duties of public officials under the Human Rights Act, using this legal framework to create social change beyond the courtrooms.

Through our work we demonstrate the value of human rights for people in their everyday lives, which also makes unique contribution by demonstrating why the Human Rights Act (and its rights and duties) are important for us all and vital to the UK's position as a modern democracy.

It is fundamental to BIHR to ensure we tell the positive story of the Human Rights Acts's impact for every one, everyday securing it in the UK's legal framework.