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Taking Assessment of Human Rights and Equality Seriously in an Age of AusterityDr James Harrison, Co-Director of Centre for Human Rights in Practice, Associate Professor, School of Law, University of Warwick
Impetus for EQHRIA• Public Sector Equality Duty• Calls from Human Rights Bodies for Human
Rights Impact Assessments• Interest from (some) public bodies in
undertaking serious analysis e.g. SHRC• Interest from civil society organisations in
challenging decision-making• The very different ‘lens’ created by a human
rights approach
Experience from EQHRIA in CoventryDifficult and time consuming – but quantitative and qualitative data makes robust EQHRIA possible.Welfare reform is having a devastating impact on many people in the city (see the Foodbank Dilemma). Coventry Law Centre - only agency in the city representing at welfare benefits appeals (80% success rate); sanctions hotline and challenging sanctions (90% success rate). Facing £159,000 cut from Council - stop running hotline and not represent at all appealsCombination of a series of cuts and reforms that is the most damaging to people
Current and future work
No more impact assessments in the foreseeable future Collaborative phds with Coventry Law Centre and Coventry City CouncilResource Database