THE town council has declared Bridport to be the first Rights-Respecting town in England with its own Rights Charter.

David Powell, chairman of the town’s Rights-Respecting steering group, explains what that means to him, how it was local schoolchildren who made it happen and what’s next for Bridport.

In 2012 young people from Bridport schools met with town councillors and asked if the town could consider becoming ‘Rights-Respecting’ and show how a better understanding of human rights can work for everyone. Public consultations took place and key rights identified in the first Bridport Rights Charter. In January 2018 Bridport Town Council adopted the Charter and the then serving Mayor, Anne Rickard, declared Bridport the first council in the UK to commit to becoming a Rights Respecting Town.

The young people were at schools which made learning about being rights-respecting for people of all ages, central to their lives. This is a process, not something done in one lesson, and over time, young people and adults alike realised that exploring human rights, including child rights, helps improve relationships and learning. All involved get a better idea of what it is they are respecting and grow a sense of responsibility in the way they behave towards others.

David has worked with UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s organisation which runs the Rights Respecting Schools Award, and seen for himself as a headteacher and advisor, the positive impact using this approach has on so many aspects of relationships and organisation culture.

In brief, the scheme requires the school to help young people under 18 learn that the rights they hold are universal and that in addition, all adults have a duty to ensure children are protected, nurtured and listened to as they grow to adulthood. They are taught that, though not duty-bearers themselves, young people need to learn how to respect the rights of others - children and adults alike.

They learn that, although human rights are universal, many children and adults cannot access them due to conflict, poverty or neglect. They recognise that they can act to help change this and to work together to address the challenge of living sustainably. This is the road to responsible adult citizenship.

Schoolchildren met with town councillors to ask if Bridport would consider taking the same rights respecting approach as their schools. They suggested creating a Rights-Respecting Charter for the town which would state the key human rights principles which citizens of the town would agree to honour.

When they met with town councillors, they were in effect repeating the message given so graphically by Eleanor Roosevelt in 1948 to the UN:

‘Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world.’

Over the following few years, groups of Bridport young people ran Rights workshops for town councillors and set up surveys at charter fairs to ask the public their views on positive citizenship. Two Colfox students accompanied David to national Conservative and Liberal Democrat conferences to present speeches on child rights and in 2015 a group of Bridport teenagers visited Srebrenica in Bosnia to work with the young people on child and human rights. The trip, organised by Tina Ellen-Lee’s ‘Complete Freedom of Truth’ project included visits to schools and youth centres in activities still having a positive impact today. Currently the young people are collaborating with town traders to develop a charter The idea for the ‘Respect’ Charter was initiated by Bridport trader, Jason Foote (Footeprints) who approached Colfox Rights Ambassadors to see if they could help with occasionally difficult customer/trader relations & dialogue.

David said the young people recognise that in becoming a Rights-Respecting town, we can’t be expected to change the world, but we can use rights principles and values in the charter to shape our communities into models of kindness, respect and empowerment, and aim for all to have equal access to their rights. In David’s words: “In doing so, we honour the memory of all who made such sacrifice to protect our democracy and secure our human rights. We don’t have to wait until November 11 each year, we remember through our actions every day.”

We have been given a chance to help Bridport pioneer the way to become a genuinely rights respecting town through some limited funding from an international charitable trust. There is a steering group of town citizens of all ages developing the project.

In 2020 the group is creating activities that will offer all in the town the opportunity to better understand their human rights. They will hold conversations with local villages to see if they wish to engage. The town council will seek to show in all that it does, that it is working to help people enjoy, protect or even defend their human rights as a way of improving relationships and wellbeing for individuals and communities. The group’s vision is for Bridport to be a town that champions human rights and equal opportunity for all - a town where everyone can live in safety, in peace and with dignity. A town where people help each other to live sustainably and promote a respectful relationship with each other and the environment. A Rights-Respecting town.

To find out more, visit bridportrightstown.org or visit Bridport TIC to see the Charter and talk to staff.