Sanchita Hosali believes the third sector has important evidence of human rights failures that the UN needs to hear
Whilst engaging with the United Nations (UN) may not be your top priority, there is a real opportunity for third sector groups to influence the upcoming review of human rights here at home. Unlike other UN processes, the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is the only one which all countries at the UN have to undergo every 4.5 years. Third sector groups can influence what issues are picked up in the UPR and the recommendations made to the UK.
So why does this matter to the third sector?
Human rights touch on issues at the heart of our work across the third sector. Issues like the welfare system, health and social care, education, equality and anti-discrimination, policing, justice, housing, political participation, and much more. Even if you don’t refer to these as human rights issues, your experiences and evidence will be vital to assessing the human rights situation in the UK.
The UK government will report on its view of human rights here. Importantly the UN will also consider what civil society groups have to say. Take any human rights issues, say access to justice, and it’s likely that the evidence of third sector groups about this issue will be different to that of the UK government. This is where the British Institute of Human Rights’ Human Rights Check UK project comes in, supporting groups to be heard as part of this international process.
Be heard at the highest levels
Through Human Rights Check UK we are running free capacity-building days and have opened a formal call for evidence (until 30 June 2016) to shape the Joint Civil Society Report we submit to the UN in September. We also hope Human Rights Check UK will empower other organisations to submit their own reports to the UN – numbers matter in this process. By getting involved we can influence the UN recommendations for improvements in the UK, providing powerful additions to the third sector toolkit for here at home.
“A reaffirmation of the importance and universality of human rights. Thank you”.
Find out more at www.bihr.org.uk/hrcheck or follow us on Twitter @BIHRhumanrights
Sanchita Hosali is deputy director at the British Institute of Human Rights
