In the UK, our human rights are protected by the Human Rights Act 1998. It means all public authorities – including the government, police, NHS and local authorities – must treat everyone equally, with dignity, fairness and respect.
The Human Rights Act legally protects your human rights. There are 16 rights in total, and each one is referred to as an ‘article’. For example, article 10 is the right to freedom of expression.
You’re protected under the Human Rights Act if you live in the UK, including if you’re a foreign national or a child detained in a hospital or prison. If a public authority doesn’t respect your human rights, you can bring a claim against them.
The Human Rights Act doesn’t apply to individuals or private companies such as employers. If you feel your employer has discriminated against you, read our page on stigma and discrimination.
All public authorities or bodies carrying out public functions need to follow the Human Rights Act. These include:
If you have a mental health problem, the Human Rights Act means staff and service providers should treat you with dignity and respect. Mental health, social services and emergency services staff must comply with your human rights.
If you’re detained under the Mental Health Act (‘sectioned’), knowing your rights can be a way to question and change how you’re looked after.
There are 16 rights or articles in the Human Rights Act. We’ve looked at the most important ones for people with mental health problems.
This means that nobody, including the state, can try to end your life. The government must make laws to protect you and, in some circumstances, protect you if your life is at risk. It also means the government must investigate suspicious deaths and deaths in custody.
Hospitals must take steps to protect your life. If you’re a patient at risk of attempting suicide, the hospital must ensure you don’t have access to the means to do this. They must ensure you can’t easily leave the building if you're detained under the Mental Health Act.
You should never be tortured or treated in an inhuman or degrading way. This means, in a way, that it causes intense physical or mental suffering. This could include police violence, poor prison conditions, or neglect or abuse in a care home.
In one case, the European Court ruled that giving a patient a cheaper psychiatric drug with worse side effects than a more expensive one was inhuman treatment.
Being restrained isn’t generally seen as torture unless too much force is used, or it’s used to limit your movements beyond keeping you safe.
We all have the right to personal freedom: to move around and not to be locked indoors. However, there are times when this right can be taken away: if we’re arrested, imprisoned or detained under the Mental Health Act.
If you think you’ve been detained unlawfully, you can use article 5 to challenge it. This could be if the correct procedures weren’t followed or you’ve been detained for longer than the law allows, for example.
Everyone has the right to a fair hearing. A fair hearing must be independent, impartial and heard within a reasonable time. This applies to:
You have the right to:
Private life has a broad meaning. It means you can live your life with privacy and without interference from the state. It covers things like:
Your right to family life means you can enjoy family relationships without interference from the government. This includes any stable relationship, for example, between an unmarried couple, a parent and child, siblings, or grandparents and grandchildren.
This article also covers respect for your home.
Here are some examples of how this article could be breached.
This means your human rights must not be protected differently because of who you are. This article doesn’t protect you from discrimination in all areas of your life – other laws give you that protection. Our page on stigma and discrimination has more information.
If a public authority hasn’t respected your human rights, you may be able to take action.
Before you start, identify which human right or rights have been breached. For example, if you were detained under the Mental Health Act but weren’t told why or given an opportunity to challenge it, this could be a breach of article 5 (the right to liberty and security).