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16 December 2022

Human Rights Monitoring:
our work to protect and promote rights this year

Marking Human Rights Day
 

The human rights we enjoy today have been hard won. Our role is to make sure they remain protected today and for future generations, so that governments and others fulfil their obligations to uphold rights, and we can all live freely and fairly in a rights-respecting society.

To mark Human Rights Day 2022, our Chairwoman Kishwer Falkner reflected on our work to protect and promote human rights this year in an article with The House Magazine on Politics Home.  

In the article, Kishwer reflected on the concerns we set out about the potential implications for human rights within the draft Bill of Rights and the briefing we published on the Public Order Bill, expressing our concerns about proposed changes to the right to peaceful protest.

Also referenced were the 29 recommendations to the UK and Welsh governments we submitted around the Universal Periodic Review, alongside the plans we have to promote the rights of people in Britain through 2023.

Updated assessments on
our Human Rights Tracker

On Human Rights Day, we published updates on the state of human rights on our Human Rights Tracker, reflecting the action of the UK and Welsh Governments. 

We have updated the earliest Tracker content, reflecting the key changes in these areas since March 2021. 
 

• Equality and human rights legal framework
   
• International cooperation, including with human rights mechanisms
   
• Health outcomes and experience in the healthcare system
   
• Mental health
   
• Educational attainment
   
• School exclusions and managing ‘challenging’ behaviour
   
• Human trafficking and modern slavery
   
• Housing
   
• Hate crime and hate speech
   
• Youth justice
   
• Political and civic participation.  
   

You can use this information to understand where legal and policy improvements are needed and how the rights of people can be better protected.

We are looking at ways of making further improvements to the Tracker to more effectively track UK and Welsh Government action towards meeting their international human rights obligations. 

UK human rights record under the
spotlight in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR)

In November, the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva examined the UK as part of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). 

Earlier this year, we published our UPR report as part of this process and made 29 recommendations to the UK and Welsh governments to improve human rights in Great Britain.  

Marcial Boo, our Chief Executive Officer, was present at the examination in Geneva and has written about his experience. In his blog post, he notes that a key aim of our report was to help other countries in making their own recommendations to the UK and it was positive to hear representatives of countries around the world echo many of the issues we had raised.

Empowering civil society through human rights monitoring processes
 

This year we commissioned Birmingham City University’s (BCU) Centre for Human Rights to empower and support civil society through the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process, as they hold the UK and Welsh governments to account for their human rights obligations.

The BCU will be holding events on the UPR over the coming months.

We also commissioned Just Fair to prepare an independent civil society shadow report for the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), on behalf of civil society in England and Wales. The report will look at how well people’s economic, social, and cultural rights are protected in the UK. It includes issues such as the right to housing, to health, and to education - essential conditions for a life of dignity and freedom.
 
Just Fair will also be holding more events in January as part of this project. 

We are proud to be funding this important work to monitor human rights. 

Our re-accreditation as
a National Human Rights Institution (NHRI) 
 

We were re-accredited this year as an ‘A status’ National Human Rights Institution (NHRI), following the routine re-accreditation process. This means we remain fully compliant with the ‘Paris Principles’, which provide the benchmark for high-performing, independent National Human Rights Institutions. We also remain able to report directly to the United Nations on human rights issues.

We are pleased that the recommendations from the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) invite us to continue our core work, look to further strengthen our powers and institution, and to keep on making a difference to the lives of people in England, Scotland and Wales.

Monitoring human rights in a digital world: sharing our work internationally
 

We continue to innovate in how we monitor and promote human rights.

Earlier this year, our colleagues met with organisations from around the world in Geneva to share expertise around digital tools for monitoring human rights.

We were invited to talk about our Human Rights Tracker at the Geneva Human Rights Platform’s 2022 Annual Conference. The Geneva Human Rights Platform, hosted by the Geneva Academy, provides a forum for organisations around the world working in human rights to debate issues about the international human rights system. The theme of this year’s conference was 'On/Off: Implications of Digital Connectivity on Human Rights.' 

Our colleague in the Human Rights Monitoring team, Rowen Siemens, has written about her experiences at the conference.

Human Rights Tracker: find out more

• find out what the UN has said about a particular human rights issue in the UK
   
• access information on the progress being made by the UK and Welsh governments
   
• find out how you can engage with international human rights treaties.