Advocacy Awareness Week

The difference an advocate can make to someone's life is huge.

We're proud of our advocacy service and this Advocacy Awareness Week we'll be celebrating the team and the positive impact it makes upon the local community.

What can you expect from Advocacy Awareness Week 2022?

This year's theme will show how advocates support people in relation to their human rights; each day the national campaign will shine a light on an element of the Human Rights Act and what this means for each of us in our lives.

The rights being focused on are:

Monday Right to life. Examples can include neglect or abuse in care settings that puts your life at risk or professionals withdrawing or refusing treatment because you have a disability.

Tuesday Right to be safe from inhuman or degrading treatment. This can include serious harm from a lack of care or support, severe abuse or ill-treatment by others. Public services staff must protect you from serious harm.

Wednesday Right to liberty. This looks at restriction of movement. Restrictions must be lawful, for a good reason and the least restrictive option.

Thursday Right to respect for private and family life. Some examples are being involved in decisions about your life, care and treatment, staying in contact with loved ones and maintaining wellbeing.

Friday Right to be free from discrimination. This can protect you from being treated worse that other people, for example because of your race or having a disability. This right has to link to your other Human Rights.

What are human rights and why are they so important?

Human rights are basic rights everyone can expect, and public authorities have a legal duty to respect and protect them. Protecting Human Rights should run through all care and support services, ensuring people are involved in decisions about their care.

Advocates have a key role in supporting people to understand and access their human rights, ensuring these are respected and upheld by public bodies, as well as raising concerns and challenges when people's rights are under threat or at risk.

We want to make sure people know about independent advocacy and how it can help people secure their rights. We also want to remind commissioners why good quality independent advocacy is essential to people in our communities.

Advocacy Awareness Week is an opportunity to celebrate great advocacy and share stories about the power and impact advocacy can have in upholding people's rights.

Find out more about our advocacy service here.