Meeting June 20, 2022
Human rights groups within psychologists’ associations
Present:
Elaine Rogers, Limerick, Ireland, clinical psych, disability rights, Psychology Society of Ireland Human Rights section
Derek Indoe, BPS, clinical & forensic psych, Immediate past chair of the BPS Steering Group on Human Rights
Tony Wainwright, for the GN Steering Group
Polli Hagenaars, for the GN steering group
Neil Baker, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion manager, British Psychological Society
Richard Plenty, interested in equality in many areas, works with Terri Morrisey. They are joint authors of ‘Uncertainty Rules’ and were facilitators for the recent Global Psychology Alliance meeting in Bogota, Colombia -see details here.
Khalid Juma, Zanzibar Psychological Counselling Association -ZAPCA, and assistant dean of student. Interested in family and child psychology as in Zanzibar where we have a problem of child violence.
Apologies:
Emmanuel Villoria Hernani, clinical psych, Philippines,
Gabe Twose, APA, international affairs, social psychologist, Human Rights Task Force,
Following introductions, we reviewed the previous minutes and agreed them.
1. Matters arising:
a. Elaine Rogers reported on the launch of the Psychological Society of Ireland’s Special Interest group in Human Rights and Psychology. Their website has details of the purpose and the aims of the group. They have also published a rapid response psychology tool to aid the public’s assistance to Ukrainian refugees arriving in Ireland.
b. Neil Baker and Derek Indoe reported on progress in the British Psychological Society in setting up a Human Rights Advisory Group and they are seeking to appoint someone to chair this group. It will report to and work with a new Equality Diversity and Inclusion Board Chaired by Dr Adam Jowett. One early piece of work will be considering the psychological impact on the changes in human rights laws proposed by the government which will limit the role of the courts in whether future UK laws are consistent with the European Convention – see https://publiclawforeveryone.com Professor Mark Elliot University of Cambridge for some information. The BPS is obtaining a human rights legal opinion on the proposed changes. Agreed that the new group’s terms of reference can be shared.
c. Tony updated the group on the survey of human rights activities that psychology associations that has now been translated into Spanish so that it is more widely available. Link for English version.
2. Tony asked that if colleagues could send material that could be added to the GN website page about their associations work in HR it could be posted there and provide publicity for it.
3. Richard said he was impressed with the Irish group’s work; he said how inspiring CoP26 had been, including the Indigenous from Brazil, and described the declaration in June 2022 from world leaders in psychology. It said:
“Members of the Global Psychology Alliance met in Bogotá June 15–18 and agreed to continue working on select United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals through 2025.
“Any problem that involves humans needs to include the science of human behavior in its solution,” said Arthur C. Evans Jr., PhD, CEO of the American Psychological Association, who addressed the summit. “Psychologists have a responsibility to come together and apply this science to address major societal issues, including climate change, global mental health and inequity.”
4. Derek told the group about a special Issue on Human Rights & Psychology, to be published in the International Journal of Psychology,( IUPsyS ) based on research; send good articles as soon as possible; send to Derek.
5. Polli reported on another special issue on Decolonizing Psychology. Please send articles.
6. Next steps for the group
a. Establish a framework for collaborating with associations who wish to establish a human rights and psychology group. Proposed this is done informally if any member of the group knows of an association wishing to establish a human rights group we can support them in this with resources and ideas.
b. Group members to share workplans and or terms of reference of their groups
c. A small group to organise future meetings: Tony Wainwright, Elaine Rogers and Khalid Zuma.
d. We need to involve more associations including Norway, Croatia, New Zealand and Australia; it is encouraging we have had new registrations to the meeting from Kenya, Brazil and Bangladesh and hopefully we can meet next time.
e. Meetings will be every other month, starting in September 2022. The time zones will alternate. Preregistration will be available for the meetings.
Thursday 1st September
London 12.00 pm
Amsterdam 1.00 pm (CEST)
Kenya 2.00 pm
Brazil 8.00 am
Philippines 7.00 pm
Jamaica 6.00 am
Washington 7.00 am
Bangladesh 5.00 pm
Zanzibar 2.00 pm
Thursday 3rd November
London 7.00 pm
Amsterdam 8.00 pm (CET)
Kenya 10.00 pm
Brazil 4.00 pm
Philippines 3.00 am
Jamaica 2.00 pm
Washington 3.00 pm
Bangladesh 1.00 am
Zanzibar 10.00 pm
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