How to raise a human rights complaint in the UK and Europe
Almost every complaint that fails does so because it skipped a step. The order is the whole game.
1. Exhaust the internal route first
Complain in writing to the body itself and keep the reference number. Nearly every commission, ombudsman and court will refuse a case that has not been through the organisation's own procedure first, and "we have not had a chance to respond" is the easiest possible defence for them to run.
2. Take it to the right commission or regulator
In England and Wales, the Equality and Human Rights Commission handles discrimination and equality duties with enforcement powers. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own commissions. The Information Commissioner's Office covers data and privacy rights. Choose by subject, not by size.
3. Use the ombudsman for maladministration
Where a public body has handled you badly rather than unlawfully, the ombudsman schemes are the right forum — the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman for the NHS and UK departments, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman for councils. In England, complaints to the Parliamentary Ombudsman must be referred by an MP, which is a concrete thing to ask your MP to do.
4. Get legal help early
Judicial review has a three-month deadline that runs from the decision, not from your discovery of it. Public Law Project, Liberty, JUSTICE and the Law Centres Network are the usual starting points, and Citizens Advice can triage. Missing the deadline closes the door permanently.
5. Strasbourg is last, not first
The European Court of Human Rights only accepts an application after domestic remedies are exhausted, and within four months of the final domestic decision. Council of Europe bodies, the Commissioner for Human Rights, and treaty bodies at the UN take information rather than individual appeals, and are useful for pattern evidence rather than your own remedy.
Copy the organisations that already work on it
When you write to your representative through this service you can send the same letter to human rights bodies and charities working on that issue, in your country, in Europe and globally. It costs you nothing and it puts your case in front of the people who litigate and lobby on it.