Promote The Human Rights Essay

Identify legislation and policies that are designed to promote the human rights, inclusion equal life chances and citizenship of individuals with learning disabilities. Legislation and policies are implemented to support and protect the human rights and inclusion of individuals with learning disabilities Some of these Acts and policies include: The Human Rights Act 1998 The Human Rights Act in the United Kingdom came into force on the 2nd October 2000 and underpins many of the core values which we in the care industry must adopt. It ensures the rights of individuals and means that they are entitled to seek help from the courts if they believe that their human rights have been infringed. The Human Rights Act â€Å"guarantees† basic human rights: the right to life; the right to liberty and security of person; the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; the right to marry and found a family etc. The care sector has the responsibility to promote and respect human rights as a core part of their day-to-day work, from drafting policies regulations and rules, through internal staff and policy issues, administration, decision making, to implementing policy and working with members of the public. The basic human rights which the care sector has the responsibility to promote are: †¢The right to life (relevant to protection of clients’ physical and mental wellbeing) †¢The right to freedom from torture and inhuman or degrading treatment †¢The right of respect for private and family life, home and correspondence (relevant to confidentiality) †¢The right to freedom of thought, conscience or religion (relevant to respecting equality and diversity) †¢The right of protection from discrimination †¢The right to marry and found a family †¢The right to education †¢Free elections by secret ballot The Equality Act 2010 Brought in to replace the previous anti-discriminatory laws. It identifies nine protected characteristics; age, disability, marriage/civil partnership, pregnancy/maternity, race, religion/belief, gender, sexual orientation and gender reassignment. The Care Standards Act 2000 The Care Standards Act 2000 reforms the regulatory system for care services in England and Wales. It replaces the Registered Homes Act 1984, and associated regulations, which is intended to be repealed from 1 April 2002. The National Minimum Standards for registered care services are issued by the Department of Health as part of the implementation of the Care Standards Act 2000. These standards include requirements about the competence of the work force including their suitability, experience and qualifications. The Care Standards Act sets out a broad range of regulation making powers covering, amongst other matters, the management, staff, premises and conduct of social care and independent healthcare establishments and agencies. The aim is to ensure that the care of vulnerable people, in differing types of supported housing is properly regulated, to improve care standards and introduce consistency in the regulation of services provided. The Protection of Vulnerable Adults (POVA)/Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults (SVA) scheme will act as a workforce ban on those professionals who have harmed vulnerable adults in their care. It will add an extra layer of protection to the pre-employment processes, including Criminal Records Bureau checks, which already take place and prevent known abusers from entering the care workforce. This Care Act 2000 was replaced by the Health & Social Care Act 2008 with the aim to primary focus of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 was to create a new regulator whose purpose was to provide registration and inspection of health and adult social care services together for the first time, with the aim of ensuring safety and quality of care for service users. Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults Group Act 2006 The purpose of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 is to restrict contact between children and vulnerable adults and those who might do them harm. The Mental Health Act 2007 The law which governs the compulsory treatment of certain people who have a mental disorder is the Mental Health Act 1983. The main purpose of the Mental Health Act 2007 is to amend the 1983 Act. It is also being used to introduce â€Å"deprivation of liberty safeguards† through amending the Mental Capacity Act 2005; and to extend the rights of victims by amending the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004. Mental Capacity Act 2005 The Mental Capacity Act 2005 provides a comprehensive framework for decision making on behalf of adults aged 16 and over who lack capacity to make decisions on their own behalf. The Act applies to England and Wales. Scotland has its own legislation. The Act sets out a number of basic principles that must govern all decisions made and actions taken under its powers. These are rooted in best practice and the common law and are designed to be fully compliant with the relevant sections of the Human Rights Act. Where confusion arises about how aspects of the Act should be implemented, it can be extremely helpful to refer back to them. Actions or decisions that clearly conflict with them are unlikely to be lawful, although there may be occasions on which they are in tension with each other and some balancing will be required. Valuing People Now Valuing People Now is an opportunity to help get better lives for all people with learning disabilities and their families, including those with complex needs, and from black and minority ethnic communities. Valuing People Now says people with a learning disability have the same human rights as everyone else Putting People First Putting People First (PPF) sets out the direction for adult social care. It is a shared commitment by the Government, local councils and service providers to ensuring that people who need care and support have choice, flexibility and control to live their lives the way they wish.