Social Work and Human Rights - British Association of ...

1 Social Work andHuman Rights : A Practice GuideLinda Harms-Smith andMaria Ines Martinez-Herrero, Paul Arnell, Janine Bolger, Alice Butler-Warke, William Cook, Margaret Downie, Natalia Farmer, Jack Nicholls andDenise MacDermott. 45123 Introduction ..Linda Harms Smith and Maria-Ines Martinez-Herrero with Luke GeogheganPART ONEThe development of Human Rights ..Law in the UKPaul The traditional Membership of the The Human Rights Act The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights Overview of relevant case lawThe relationship between Human .. Rights and EthicsJack Nicholls, Maria-Ines Martinez-Herrero, LindaHarms The relationship between ethics and Human Rights Rights -based Social work, and similarities and differences with ethical approaches Social work advocacy: protection and expansion of Rights in policy and law What falls within Human Rights Law ..and what does notPaul Generations of Human Civil and political Human Rights in the ECHR and the HRA Public authority obligation (the vertical application) Private person/organisation obligation (the horizontal application) Positive obligations CONTENT56914 The mechanisms whereby.

2 Conflicting Human Rights are resolvedPaul Introduction Classes of Human Rights fundamental, procedural and qualified Jurisprudence on the conflict of Rights The right to Respect for Private and Family Life Right to Liberty Protected Characteristics ..Margaret Protected Direct Indirect discrimination Conflicts between protected characteristics RemediesPART TWOH uman Rights applied in Social ..Work PracticeJack Nicholls, Janine Bolger, Denise MacDermott, Natalia Farmer, Bill Cook, LindaHarms Introduction Jack Children and Families Denise MacDermott, Janine Bolger, Linda Harms Adults William Disability William Cook Migrants, Refugees, Asylum seekers and persons with NRPF Natalia Farmer18202362789 Human Rights and Medical Issues ..Margaret Introduction End of life care for adults End of Life Care for Children Resolving AbortionHuman Rights and Butler-Warke and Denise ICT as a form of giving voice Surveillance and Data and ICT, education and Online Maintaining boundaries in Conflict minerals and ICTP overty, Austerity and Human Rights .

3 Jack Nicholls, Maria-Ines Martinez Herrero, LindaHarms Smith Introduction: Poverty and austerity in the Poverty as a consequence of a failure to protect and enact Human Rights Poverty as a barrier to Human Austerity as a barrier to Human Rights 3944491112 The Education and Training ..of Social WorkersMaria-Ines Martinez-Herrero, Janine Bolger,Jack Nicholls, Denise Human Rights training requirements under the UK s Social work education Teaching Human Rights law and theory in Social work Human Rights and Social workThe divergence of Law, Policy ..and Social Work Regulatory Frameworks between the four UK countriesMaria-Ines Martinez-HerreroThe impact of Bolger and Denise EU Human Rights Rise of hate Impact on care sectorGlossary ..10535659613134 INTRODUCTIONH uman Rights are at the centre ofevery-day Social work practice. The legislation and policy under which socialworkers practice is governed by Human Rights legislation.

4 The Human Rights Act 1998 identified a number of protections including the right to liberty (Article 5) and the right to family life (Article8). Social workers undertaking mental health assessments have to take into account Article 5 as do Social workers applying Deprivation of LibertySafeguards (DoLS). Social workers (and the courts)making decisions about the removal of children, or adoption, have to take into account Article 8. As this Practice Guide will demonstrate there aremany other examples. Positioning Social work as a Social justice andhuman Rights profession also means that engagingwith questions of Human Rights extends beyondthe application of specific laws to a more holistichuman Rights orientation. The subject of humanrights and Social work therefore covers a large andcomplex area so this is not a comprehensive statement but a Practice Guide to the key , a wide range of resources have beensignposted including peer reviewed books, courtjudgements and work of advocacy groups.

5 TheGuide can be read in its entirety or Social workerscan use the sections that seem most relevant tothem. Legislation and case law were correct at thetime of writing. While this Guide aims to be an authoritative source it is not a substitute for making decisions about individual cases in isolation from supervision and professional accountability. Part 1covers the essential background to humanrights. section 1 looks at the development ofhuman Rights law in the UK. Human Rights have anethical dimension, but ethics and Human Rights aredifferent, and this is explained in section 2. Oftenclaims are made that this is a Human Rights issue and section 3 sets outs what can legitimately becurrently claimed as a Human right . Human rightscan also conflict and section 4 explores this 5 looks at protected characteristics , therights that relate to sex, race, religion, sexuality andother 2tackles issues of Social work practice. section 6 introduces the areas of children andfamilies, adults, disability and migrants andrefugees.

6 section 7 looks at Human Rights andmedical issues and section 8 Human Rights andICT as they relate to Social work. section 9 dealswith the questions of poverty, austerity and humanrights. section 10 looks at the education and training of Social work while section 11 sets outthe increasing divergence of law, policy and practice across the four countries of the UK. section 12 examines the impact of work is an international profession andhuman Rights are situated within law and international treaties. Reflecting this, there is acompanion publication to this one: Social Workand Human Rights : The International Rights have been hard won. Service usersin the UK and internationally, and Social workers in the UK and internationally, have played an important role in making Human Rights a , Human Rights can also be reversed. section shows how the policies collectivelydubbed the hostile environment have rolled backrights for migrants and refugees.

7 Human rightsshould be embedded in agency policy and procedures and become part of the wallpaper of practice but as many Social workers will testifyausterity has undermined these Rights . Socialworkers have an individual duty to ensure therights of service users are respected and throughorganisations such as BASW, a collective duty tomaintain and develop Human Rights . It is hopedthat this Practice Guide provides a useful tool forthis crucial THE DEVELOPMENT OF Human Rights LAW IN THE IntroductionAlthough specific UK Human Rights law is relativelynew, there is a long history1shaping the conceptof Human Rights , beginning with Magna Carta in1215. The Race Relations Act of 1965 was for example the first law to address racial , the central governing statute, the HumanRights Act 19982, only fully entered into force on 2 October 2000. This is not to suggest that peopledid not have protections under the law prior tothat point, nor that Human Rights protection wascompletely absent.

8 There was protection underthe common law, amongst other legal procedures,and it was possible for Human Rights to be vindicatedsince 1966 through application to the EuropeanCourt of Human Rights (ECtHR)3in Strasbourg. It is important to note the power of campaigning,activism and collective action of people across theUK in exerting influence on the state to introducelegislation protecting peoples Rights , such as thatwhich led to the enactment of the Disability Discrimination Act of 1995 (DDA). The Equality Act of 2010 combined all such equality laws, including the DDA (1995). The Equality and HumanRights Commission became the successor to theDisability Rights Commission and other Equalitiesorganisations. Current examples of Human rightsand Social justice campaigning organisations arelisted in the resources section of this chapter. The traditional position: Civil liberties Before October 2000, Human Rights were not arguablein UK courts.

9 In Kaur v Lord Advocate4a mother sargument that her deportation to India would violateher right to family life on account of being separatedfrom her British -born children was rejected. 1 Equality and Human Rights Commission. A history of Human Rights in the UK. (1980) SC Ross held, that even though the UK was aparty to the European Convention on HumanRights 1950 (ECHR)5that did not mean that humanrights were applicable, or in legal terms, justiciable,in Scottish courts. Instead of Human Rights therewere civil liberties . This meant that persons werefree to act as they pleased unless restricted fromdoing so by the criminal or civil The European Conventionon Human RightsThe origins of the Human Rights now applicable inUK law can be traced to the end of the SecondWorld War. Specifically, to the European Convention on Human Rights 1950. The ECHR is a multi-lateral treaty, binding parties to it withinpublic international law. It was modelled on theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights the ECHR binds all the Members of theCouncil of Europe7, now 48, to adhere to theterms of the treaty and to respect the humanrights of everyone within their jurisdiction, it didnot require that contracting parties legislate to enable persons within their jurisdiction to bringhuman Rights cases against their own country.

10 Instead, it created a system where fellow state parties and persons could bring a case against anoffending state before the ECtHR. This system, ofinter-state and individual petition continues to thisday. Individual petition cases have given rise to alarge body of extremely valuable case law that interprets the Rights in the ECHR in the context of particular The Human Rights Act 1998 The Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA)is one of themost important pieces of legislation of recenttimes. It allows, for the first time, persons who feelthat their Human Rights have been violated to go toa UK court and attempt to secure a remedy. Therights within the HRA are a copy of those found inthe ECHR8. They are found in Schedule 1 to theHRA9. These Rights are listed in section below. It is important to note that the HRA is merely anAct of the UK Parliament, it has no higher The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights10It is also necessary to note the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights 2000.