Equality and Human Rights Commission

2011 has been a powerful year for human rights in Britain and across the world. With increased focus on the role and value of human rights here in Britain and the ever-strengthening calls for more human rights protections around the world, the last twelve months have been transformed by people asserting and using their rights.

In Britain, many individuals suffer human rights abuses but also fight back against these violations. We have seen human rights legislation bringing justice to many vulnerable people in Britain, such as:

• A disabled women claiming her right to receive home care instead of residential care^₁
• Children receiving protection from abuse suffered by their mother^₂
• Four victims of trafficking aged 11 to 14 years, who were forced to work in domestic servitude and subject to emotional and physical violence, and whose case was not investigated by the Metropolitan Police³

But despite such successes, there are still vulnerable people in Britain whose rights are not being respected and who are suffering violations of their most basic rights every day. Our Home Care Inquiry showed that people receiving publically funded private care in their homes are subject to serious human rights violations. Similarly, people who have suffered harassment and violence are also not receiving the essential support that they need.

Footnotes

¹Rachel Gunter (by her litigation friend and father Edwin Gunter) v South Western Staffordshire Primary Care Trust (2005).

^₂ Z v United Kingdom (2001).

^₃ O.O.O (and others) v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis, [2011] EWHC 1246