Human Rights Resources
The information and links to third party resources on this page are provided for training and education purposes only. Advice from a suitably qualified and experienced lawyer should be sought in relation to individual cases.
An understanding of Human Rights is fundamental to good, safe, lawful and ethical health and social care.
Within the UK the are three main sources of Human Rights; international Human Rights, for example United Nations Human Rights Treaties; regional Human Rights, for example the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and domestic, for example, the Human Rights Act 1998, which made the ECHR part of domestic law within the UK.
Human Rights law is perhaps the most misunderstood area of law. Human Rights often get bad press in parts of the national media and there are many myths spread about human rights cases. Watch out for a blog we will be publishing later this year where we talk about some of the myths. There is also a great deal of misunderstanding as to how human rights ‘work’ within the legal systems of the UK, for example, misunderstandings that UN Human Rights Treaties are ‘not law’. Another common misunderstanding is that human rights have to be earned, that you are only entitled to a ‘right’ if you first fulfil a ‘duty’. This is also wrong, human rights are by their nature, universal. This becomes clear if you think about young children. Although there is some academics at the extreme who still argue that young children can not be rights holders, the consensus is that babies and children, are and can be rights holders. Indeed, whilst in the UK a child only becomes a rights holder at birth, in other states, a fetus is recognised as being a rights holder. Clearly a very young child, baby or fetus is not capable of fulfilling a ‘duty’, in order to become a rights holder.
If you would like to learn more about Human Rights in healthcare, we will be running a series of workshops on human rights in healthcare. Please CONTACT US if you would like us to send you more details closer to the start of these workshops.
On the rest of this page you will find links to some key Human Rights Resources.
United Nations Human Rights Treaties
The United Nations Human Rights Treaties create obligations in international law which State Parties must respect. When it becomes a party to an international treaty a State assumes duties and obligations under international law to protect and fulfil human rights. The State must ensure their domestic laws, policies and procedures comply with the Treaty. The State must also send periodical reports to a UN committee of independent experts relevant to that Treaty, setting out how the State is meeting its duties and obligations under the Treaty.
Civil society ( for example, voluntary organisations, academics, social enterprises, businesses and people with lived experience with professionally or personally) also file a parallel report outlining how they believe the State is meeting or failing to meet its obligations. All the reports are available to read on the website of the relevant UN Committee (see links below). The government reports have a tendency to present an idealised picture of how Treaty obligations are being met, whereas the Civil Society reports tend to present a more realistic picture.
The UN Committee then considers both reports, hears from government and civil society and can also make visits to the State under review, before publishing their Concluding Recommendations (as available on the relevant Committee’s website). The Concluding Recommendations is the UN Committee’s judgment on how well the State is meeting is obligations and contains recommendations of further steps the State should take.
As the UN is a global organisation its Human Rights treaties apply to the wealthiest and the the poorest nations on the planet. The set of duties referred to as ‘Articles’ of a Treaty are therefore minimal standards to be met. The UN Committees expect wealthier States, such as the UK not only to exceed the standards set in Treaties, but also to work to assist poorer States.
Link to Core UN International Human Rights Treaties and their Monitoring Committees
Link to UN Guide to Human Rights Treaties and Treaty Monitoring
From the Monitoring Committees’ pages you will be able to link to the government and civil society periodic reports for the UK (or any other State Party) and the Committee’s Concluding Observations. On the Monitoring Committee’s page you will also find links to documents called General Comments. These are extremely useful documents as they explain how the different Articles of the Treaty should be implemented. They are the UN equivalent of statutory guidance.
Adam made a short training film about Children’s Rights for a Together: Scottish Alliance for Children’s Rights training event. Adam talks about his experiences of having his Article 12 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, right to be listened to recognised in healthcare and education. The film has since been used widely in healthcare education and by child rights organisations. (Click on the blue heading to access the film)
European Convention on Human Rights
The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is a regional Human Rights Treaty signed by States which a members of the Council of Europe (CoE). The CoE is completely different organisation from the European Union (EU) (in the UK the ECHR is often, especially in the media wrongly described as an EU treaty). The CoE is a human rights and democracy organisation with 47 State members, including the all the members of the EU.
The UK was one of the 10 original signatories to the ECHR and took a prominent role in its drafting. The ECHR has been binding international law in the UK since it came into force on 3rd September 1953. Since 1965 UK citizens have been able to take cases of breaches of the their ECHR rights to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg (not to be confused with the EU European Court of Justice in Luxembourg).
The passing of the Human Rights Act 1998, made it possible for UK citizens to bring actions directly in UK courts. The ECtHR now acts as an appeals court once cases have been through the UK courts systems.
There is no express right to health or healthcare in the ECHR, but Article 8 (right to a privacy and a family life) and in extreme circumstances Article 3 (right not to be subjected to inhuman treatment or torture) have been interpreted to include a right to healthcare. The ECHR also contains in Article 2 a right to life and in Article 14 a right to be treated without discrimination. It is important to note, however, that Article 14 is a right not to be discriminated in relation to any of the rights in the ECHR, it is not a right not be discriminated against generally. In practice this means that a claimant first has to show their rights were breached under one of the other Articles of the Convention and then show that discrimination played a part in this. A healthcare example might be a disabled individual establishing their Article 8 right was breached in a healthcare context and then establishing that they suffered this breach because they were disabled.
European Convention on Human Rights Case law of the European Court of Human Rights
European Court of Human Rights, Thematic Report: Health-related issues in the case law of the European Court of Human Rights (June 2015)
Domestic Human Rights Law
British Bill of Rights
Update: Liz Truss’s government has indicated that they will not proceed with the government’s Bill of Rights. They have indicated that changes will be made ‘in other ways’, but no further information is currently available.
This UK Government Bill was introduced into the House of Commons by Justice Secretary Dominic Raab on 22nd June 2022. The Adam Bojelian Foundation shares the concerns expressed by other legal and rights experts about the potentially devasting impact of this Bill. If enacted it would restrict the human rights of the most vulnerable members of society, including those dependant on public services such as the NHS and local authorities. We therefore think it is vitally important that health and care professionals and those using their services are aware of the implications of the Bill. We hope those of you who are able to do so, will use what influence you have, for example through your professional bodies, networks and MPs to express concerns about this retrograde Bill.
The government held a consultation on their proposals prior to introducing the Bill. The government has not published the responses they received to that consultation, but responses have helpfully been collated by the British Institute of Human Rights and can be read from this LINK.
The Law Society, the professional body representing solicitors in England and Wales issued this press release on 22nd June. Law Society President Stephanie Boyce said of the Bill:
“The bill will create an acceptable class of human rights abuses in the United Kingdom – by introducing a bar on claims deemed not to cause ‘significant disadvantage’.
“It is a lurch backwards for British justice. Authorities may begin to consider some rights violations as acceptable, because these could no longer be challenged under the Bill of Rights despite being against the law.
“Overall, the bill would grant the state greater unfettered power over the people, power which would then belong to all future governments, whatever their ideologies.
“The disregard for the rule of law the government is repeatedly signalling both at home and abroad – also inherent in this bill – risks inflicting serious harm on Britain’s reputation with trade partners, business and in the international arena.”
More about the Law Society’s and the concerns of legal and rights experts can be read HERE.
Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) incorporates the ECHR into domestic law in the UK, so into English and Scots law. In essence this means it makes it possible to bring actions for breaches of ECHR rights in the English, Welsh and Scots Courts.
The HRA applies to public authorities, as well as State funded authorities such as the NHS, this includes organisations, for example private hospitals or care homes, where a private organisation is providing publicly funded treatment and care.
Section 6 HRA makes it unlawful for a public authority to act in a way which is incompatible with the ECHR.
Case law of the UK Supreme Court UK Parliament, Horizon Scanning: Law, human rights and COVID-19: What are experts concerned about? (21st May 2020)
We saw earlier that the UN Human Treaties are not domestic law within the UK. This means, unlike the ECHR, actions can not be brought in UK Courts for breaches of UN Human Rights Treaty articles. However, the UN treaty articles can be used to support actions for breaches of domestic law, so to back up actions brought for breaches of other laws.
This will soon change in Scotland in relation to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill was introduced to the Scottish Parliament in September 2020 and passed unanimously by Members of the Scottish Parliament on 16th March 2021. The Bill will commence six months after it receives Royal Assent. Once law, the Act will make it unlawful for public authorities in Scotland to act incompatibly with the UNCRC and children and young people or their representatives will be able to bring actions in the Scottish Courts to enforce their UNCRC rights. Scottish Government will be required to report annually on how they are meeting their UNCRC obligations and duties and other Scottish public authorities must do so every three years.
AdsFoundation will be running a series of on-line workshops on healthcare law and ethics. Please CONTACT US if you would like to be sent more information about these.
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