Liberty (pressure group)
Encyclopedia
Liberty is a pressure group based in the United Kingdom. Its formal name is the National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL). Founded in 1934 by Ronald Kidd
and Sylvia Crowther-Smith (later Scaffardi), the group campaigns to protect civil liberties
and promote human rights
. Liberty campaigns to protect basic rights and freedoms through the courts, in Parliament and in the wider community. They do this through a combination of public campaigning, test case litigation, parliamentary lobbying, policy analysis and the provision of free advice and information. Its current director is Shami Chakrabarti
who took the role in September 2003.
. The first Secretary was Ronald Kidd
, and first President E. M. Forster
; Vice-Presidents were the politician and author A. P. Herbert
and the journalist Kingsley Martin
of the New Statesman
. H.G. Wells, Vera Brittain
, Clement Attlee
, Rebecca West
, Edith Summerskill
and Harold Laski
were also founder members.
The National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL) was founded in 1934. This title had been used earlier, in World War I
, for an organisation founded as the National Council Against Conscription, which changed its name in 1916. This former organisation may not have lasted longer than until about 1918, and no connection can be assumed.
The inaugural meeting took place in the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London on 22 February 1934. A letter published in the Times and Guardian newspapers announced the formations of the group, citing "the general and alarming tendency to encroachment on the liberty of the citizen" as the reason for its establishment. The first campaign was against the criminalisation of pacifist or anti-war literature. Under the proposed ‘Sedition Bill’ it would have been a criminal offence to possess pacifist literature, for example anti-war pamphlets. Although the Bill became law, NCCL succeeded in watering it down. Other prominent early themes included campaigning against fascists, against film censorship and support for striking miners in Nottinghamshire
.
During the 1940s NCCL led protests against a BBC
ban on artists who attended a ‘People’s Convention’ organised by the Communist party.
Miscarriages of justice
At this time NCCL was also involved in several miscarriage of justice cases, including that of Emery, Powers and Thompson who were sentenced to between four and ten years imprisonment for assaulting a police officer, even though someone else confessed to the crime and the prosecution evidence is flawed. NCCL found a witness who confirmed the men’s alibi and they were released from prison and granted a royal pardon.
Reform of the mental health System
During the 1950s NCCL campaigned for reform of the mental health system, under which people known to be sane but deemed ‘morally defective’ – unmarried mothers, for example – could be locked up in an asylum.
By 1957, the campaign had seen the release of around 2,000 former inmates, the abolition of the Mental Health Act 1913 and the establishment of new Mental Health Review Tribunals and the Mental Health Act 1959.
Opposition to racial discrimination
After 1960, NCCL responded to the tightening of immigration laws and a rise in race-hate incidents by lobbying for the Race Relations Act
, which came into force in 1965. NCCL also published pamphlets exposing the effective ‘colour bar’, whereby black and Asian people were refused service in certain pubs and hotels.
Women's rights
Campaigning for women's rights
was also a major part of NCCL's work in this period, including successfully calling for reform of jury service laws that effectively prevented women and the poor from serving on juries by means of a property qualification.
Gypsies and travellers
After the Highways Act 1959 made it illegal to camp on highway verges NCCL worked to protect traveller and Gypsy communities from persecution. In one illustrative case, Gypsies in Orpington were moved onto the highway by officials and then summonsed for infringing the Highways Act. The Act was eventually abolished in 1980 after a long campaign.
Right to public protest
NCCL intervened on behalf of groups refused permission to protest and monitoring the policing of demonstrations such as those against the Vietnam War
.
Support for reluctant servicemen
NCCL also campaigned to raise awareness of the difficulty faced by ‘reluctant servicemen’ – men in the armed forces who had often signed-up as teenagers then realised they’d made a mistake but were prevented from discharging themselves for anything up to 16 years.
Northern Ireland
In 1972 NCCL campaigned for civil rights in Northern Ireland
, including collecting 600 witness statements to show that the army was criminally reckless when 14 people were killed on a civil rights march in Derry, referred to as Bloody Sunday
.
Data protection
In 1975 NCCL bought 3 million credit rating files from Konfax Ltd after they were offered for sale in the Evening Standard
. The files were destroyed and the major privacy protection ‘Right to Know’ campaign to give individuals greater control over their personal information was launched in 1977.
, who was later to become prominent in the Labour Party, serving as Health Secretary. A number of other future high profile Labour politicians worked at the organisation at this time, such as Harriet Harman
who worked as the legal officer and her husband Jack Dromey
.
Organisations such as Paedophile Information Exchange
(P.I.E.) and Paedophile Action for Liberation controversially became affiliated to the NCCL and made complaints to the press watchdog about their treatment by tabloid newspapers. NCCL worked to reduce the age of consent
in the United Kingdom and argued that court cases and inquests compelling young people to recount sexual activities wilfully engaged in could do more damage than the acts themselves, arguing that “childhood sexual experiences
, willingly engaged in, with an adult result in no identifiable damage”. They also sought to place the "onus of proof on the prosecution to show that the child was actually harmed" rather than having a blanket ban on child pornography
and advocated the decriminalisation of incest
. the NCCL stated they supported "any organisation that seeks to campaign for anything it wants within the law". Groups such as P.I.E. were later excluded from the organisation.
‘Sus’ laws
In 1981 following an NCCL campaign, the ‘sus’ laws, which allowed police to stop and search on the grounds of suspicion alone, are repealed.
Gay rights and censorship
NCCL acted for the owners of ‘Gay’s the Word’ bookshop, whose stock was confiscated by Customs officers in 1984. All charges were dropped and the stock was returned.
Miners' strike
During the miners’ strike
, NCCL campaigned on behalf of miners stopped from picketing outside their home regions.
MI5 surveillance
The European Court of Human Rights
ruled that MI5
surveillance of Harriet Harman
and Patricia Hewitt
during the pair’s tenure at Liberty breached the European Convention on Human Rights
.
Detention without charge
During the Gulf War
, Liberty successfully campaigned for the release of over 100 Iraqi nationals – some of whom were openly opposed to Saddam Hussein – detained without charge in Britain on the grounds that they posed a risk to national security.
Miscarriage of justice
Throughout the 1990s Liberty focused again on miscarriage of justice cases and campaigned for reform of the criminal justice system. High profile cases included that of the Birmingham Six
, who were released after 16 years in prison for IRA bombings they didn’t commit.
Human Rights Act
In 1998 Liberty’s campaign to bring the European Convention on Human Rights
into UK law finally succeeds with the passing of the Human Rights Act 1998
.
At the start of the 2000s, Liberty used the protections in the new Human Rights Act 1998
to fight a number of landmark cases, including supporting terminally-ill Diane Pretty
’s fight to die with dignity and Christine Goodwin’s successful bid to have her new gender legally recognised following discrimination and harassment at work.
A and others v Secretary of State for the Home Department
Liberty intervened in the long-running A and others v Secretary of State for the Home Department case which led to a crucially important decision for future government policy in 2004 when the Law Lords ruled that detaining non-British nationals without trial was unlawful. In a 2005 judgment the Law Lords also confirmed that evidence obtained through torture was not admissible in British courts.
Katherine Gun
In 2004, Liberty acted for the translator and whistleblower
Katharine Gun
who claimed that the American National Security Agency
had requested the British Government's help in illegal surveillance on the UN. She was prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act 1989
. The charges were dropped when the prosecution failed to offer any evidence.
was appointed as Liberty's new director in September 2003. The organisation became increasingly high profile, with Chakrabarti making regular appearances in the media. She was described in The Times
newspaper as "the most effective public affairs lobbyist of the past 20 years". .
Pre-charge detention
During 2007 and 2008 Liberty led the opposition to government plans to extend detention without charge for those suspected of terrorism
to 42 days. Liberty won a major campaign victory when the government dropped the proposal after it was rejected by the House of Lords
in October 2008.
Gooch Gang
In April 2009, Liberty controversially protested against a poster campaign by Greater Manchester Police
which depicted a series of notorious Manchester gangsters, the Gooch Gang as pensioners. The billboard campaign used computer-generated images of Colin Joyce and Lee Amos showed how the “aged” criminals would look when they are finally released from prison in the 2040s. Liberty supported claims that the posters should be removed following complaints from family members of the gangsters, not involved with their relative's criminality, who claimed they were being targeted in the community after the posters were erected.
Current campaigns include opposing unfair extradition
proceedings, the most prominent case being that of Gary McKinnon
.
Liberty is also a supporter of the NO2ID
coalition.
Ronald Kidd
Ronald Kidd was a civil rights campaigner.Born in London, England, the son of surgeon Leonard Joseph Kidd, grandson of doctor Joseph Kidd, and nephew of doctors Percy Kidd and Walter Aubrey Kidd, Ronald Hubert Kidd had a variety of jobs before finding his vocation as a campaigner against...
and Sylvia Crowther-Smith (later Scaffardi), the group campaigns to protect civil liberties
Civil liberties
Civil liberties are rights and freedoms that provide an individual specific rights such as the freedom from slavery and forced labour, freedom from torture and death, the right to liberty and security, right to a fair trial, the right to defend one's self, the right to own and bear arms, the right...
and promote human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
. Liberty campaigns to protect basic rights and freedoms through the courts, in Parliament and in the wider community. They do this through a combination of public campaigning, test case litigation, parliamentary lobbying, policy analysis and the provision of free advice and information. Its current director is Shami Chakrabarti
Shami Chakrabarti
Shami Chakrabarti CBE , has been the director of Liberty, a British pressure group, since September 2003. Chakrabarti is the Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University.-Early life:...
who took the role in September 2003.
Foundation and early years.
The immediate spur to the organisation's formation was the National Hunger March, 1932National Hunger March, 1932
The National Hunger March of September–October 1932 was the largest of a series of hunger marches in Britain in the 1920s and 1930s.-Background:...
. The first Secretary was Ronald Kidd
Ronald Kidd
Ronald Kidd was a civil rights campaigner.Born in London, England, the son of surgeon Leonard Joseph Kidd, grandson of doctor Joseph Kidd, and nephew of doctors Percy Kidd and Walter Aubrey Kidd, Ronald Hubert Kidd had a variety of jobs before finding his vocation as a campaigner against...
, and first President E. M. Forster
E. M. Forster
Edward Morgan Forster OM, CH was an English novelist, short story writer, essayist and librettist. He is known best for his ironic and well-plotted novels examining class difference and hypocrisy in early 20th-century British society...
; Vice-Presidents were the politician and author A. P. Herbert
A. P. Herbert
Sir Alan Patrick Herbert, CH was an English humorist, novelist, playwright and law reform activist...
and the journalist Kingsley Martin
Kingsley Martin
Basil Kingsley Martin was a British journalist who edited the left-leaning political magazine the New Statesman from 1930 to 1960....
of the New Statesman
New Statesman
New Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
. H.G. Wells, Vera Brittain
Vera Brittain
Vera Mary Brittain was a British writer, feminist and pacifist, best remembered as the author of the best-selling 1933 memoir Testament of Youth, recounting her experiences during World War I and the beginning of her journey towards pacifism.-Life:Born in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Brittain was the...
, Clement Attlee
Clement Attlee
Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, KG, OM, CH, PC, FRS was a British Labour politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951, and as the Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955...
, Rebecca West
Rebecca West
Cicely Isabel Fairfield , known by her pen name Rebecca West, or Dame Rebecca West, DBE was an English author, journalist, literary critic and travel writer. A prolific, protean author who wrote in many genres, West was committed to feminist and liberal principles and was one of the foremost public...
, Edith Summerskill
Edith Summerskill
Edith Clara Summerskill, Baroness Summerskill CH PC was a British physician, feminist, misandrist, Labour politician and writer. She was appointed to the Privy Council in 1949.-Early life:...
and Harold Laski
Harold Laski
Harold Joseph Laski was a British Marxist, political theorist, economist, author, and lecturer, who served as the chairman of the Labour Party during 1945-1946, and was a professor at the LSE from 1926 to 1950....
were also founder members.
The National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL) was founded in 1934. This title had been used earlier, in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, for an organisation founded as the National Council Against Conscription, which changed its name in 1916. This former organisation may not have lasted longer than until about 1918, and no connection can be assumed.
The inaugural meeting took place in the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London on 22 February 1934. A letter published in the Times and Guardian newspapers announced the formations of the group, citing "the general and alarming tendency to encroachment on the liberty of the citizen" as the reason for its establishment. The first campaign was against the criminalisation of pacifist or anti-war literature. Under the proposed ‘Sedition Bill’ it would have been a criminal offence to possess pacifist literature, for example anti-war pamphlets. Although the Bill became law, NCCL succeeded in watering it down. Other prominent early themes included campaigning against fascists, against film censorship and support for striking miners in Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire is a county in the East Midlands of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west...
.
Post war
BBC banDuring the 1940s NCCL led protests against a BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
ban on artists who attended a ‘People’s Convention’ organised by the Communist party.
Miscarriages of justice
At this time NCCL was also involved in several miscarriage of justice cases, including that of Emery, Powers and Thompson who were sentenced to between four and ten years imprisonment for assaulting a police officer, even though someone else confessed to the crime and the prosecution evidence is flawed. NCCL found a witness who confirmed the men’s alibi and they were released from prison and granted a royal pardon.
Reform of the mental health System
During the 1950s NCCL campaigned for reform of the mental health system, under which people known to be sane but deemed ‘morally defective’ – unmarried mothers, for example – could be locked up in an asylum.
By 1957, the campaign had seen the release of around 2,000 former inmates, the abolition of the Mental Health Act 1913 and the establishment of new Mental Health Review Tribunals and the Mental Health Act 1959.
1960-1974
The 1960s saw the organisation broaden its scope, particularly from 1966 under new General Secretary Tony Smyth. It campaigned on racial issues, on behalf of gypsies, children, prisoners and servicemen who had changed their decision about joining the forces. This broader range of campaigning resulted in a large rise in membership and a higher profile in the media.Opposition to racial discrimination
After 1960, NCCL responded to the tightening of immigration laws and a rise in race-hate incidents by lobbying for the Race Relations Act
Race Relations Act
The Race Relations Acts are a series of statutes by the United Kingdom parliament to address racial discrimination.They are:* The Race Relations Act 1965* The Race Relations Act 1968* The Race Relations Act 1976* The Race Relations Amendment Act 2000...
, which came into force in 1965. NCCL also published pamphlets exposing the effective ‘colour bar’, whereby black and Asian people were refused service in certain pubs and hotels.
Women's rights
Campaigning for women's rights
Women's rights
Women's rights are entitlements and freedoms claimed for women and girls of all ages in many societies.In some places these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behaviour, whereas in others they may be ignored or suppressed...
was also a major part of NCCL's work in this period, including successfully calling for reform of jury service laws that effectively prevented women and the poor from serving on juries by means of a property qualification.
Gypsies and travellers
After the Highways Act 1959 made it illegal to camp on highway verges NCCL worked to protect traveller and Gypsy communities from persecution. In one illustrative case, Gypsies in Orpington were moved onto the highway by officials and then summonsed for infringing the Highways Act. The Act was eventually abolished in 1980 after a long campaign.
Right to public protest
NCCL intervened on behalf of groups refused permission to protest and monitoring the policing of demonstrations such as those against the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
.
Support for reluctant servicemen
NCCL also campaigned to raise awareness of the difficulty faced by ‘reluctant servicemen’ – men in the armed forces who had often signed-up as teenagers then realised they’d made a mistake but were prevented from discharging themselves for anything up to 16 years.
Northern Ireland
In 1972 NCCL campaigned for civil rights in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
, including collecting 600 witness statements to show that the army was criminally reckless when 14 people were killed on a civil rights march in Derry, referred to as Bloody Sunday
Bloody Sunday
-Events :* Bloody Sunday , a demonstration in London, England against British repression in Ireland* Bloody Sunday , a day of high casualties in the Second Boer War, South Africa...
.
Data protection
In 1975 NCCL bought 3 million credit rating files from Konfax Ltd after they were offered for sale in the Evening Standard
Evening Standard
The Evening Standard, now styled the London Evening Standard, is a free local daily newspaper, published Monday–Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London...
. The files were destroyed and the major privacy protection ‘Right to Know’ campaign to give individuals greater control over their personal information was launched in 1977.
1975–1989
From 1974-83 the NCCL was headed by Patricia HewittPatricia Hewitt
Patricia Hope Hewitt is an Australian-born British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Leicester West from 1997 until 2010. She served in the Cabinet until 2007, most recently as Health Secretary....
, who was later to become prominent in the Labour Party, serving as Health Secretary. A number of other future high profile Labour politicians worked at the organisation at this time, such as Harriet Harman
Harriet Harman
Harriet Ruth Harman QC is a British Labour Party politician, who is the Member of Parliament for Camberwell and Peckham, and was MP for the predecessorPeckham constituency from 1982 to 1997...
who worked as the legal officer and her husband Jack Dromey
Jack Dromey
Jack Dromey MP is a British Labour Party politician and trade unionist, who has been the Member of Parliament for Birmingham Erdington since 2010...
.
Organisations such as Paedophile Information Exchange
Paedophile Information Exchange
The Paedophile Information Exchange was a UK pro-paedophile activist group, founded in October 1974 and officially disbanded in 1984. In January 2006 the Paedophile Unit finally arrested the last of its members on child pornography charges, with David Joy warned by his sentencing judge that his...
(P.I.E.) and Paedophile Action for Liberation controversially became affiliated to the NCCL and made complaints to the press watchdog about their treatment by tabloid newspapers. NCCL worked to reduce the age of consent
Age of consent
While the phrase age of consent typically does not appear in legal statutes, when used in relation to sexual activity, the age of consent is the minimum age at which a person is considered to be legally competent to consent to sexual acts. The European Union calls it the legal age for sexual...
in the United Kingdom and argued that court cases and inquests compelling young people to recount sexual activities wilfully engaged in could do more damage than the acts themselves, arguing that “childhood sexual experiences
Child sexual abuse
Child sexual abuse is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include asking or pressuring a child to engage in sexual activities , indecent exposure with intent to gratify their own sexual desires or to...
, willingly engaged in, with an adult result in no identifiable damage”. They also sought to place the "onus of proof on the prosecution to show that the child was actually harmed" rather than having a blanket ban on child pornography
Child pornography
Child pornography refers to images or films and, in some cases, writings depicting sexually explicit activities involving a child...
and advocated the decriminalisation of incest
Incest
Incest is sexual intercourse between close relatives that is usually illegal in the jurisdiction where it takes place and/or is conventionally considered a taboo. The term may apply to sexual activities between: individuals of close "blood relationship"; members of the same household; step...
. the NCCL stated they supported "any organisation that seeks to campaign for anything it wants within the law". Groups such as P.I.E. were later excluded from the organisation.
‘Sus’ laws
In 1981 following an NCCL campaign, the ‘sus’ laws, which allowed police to stop and search on the grounds of suspicion alone, are repealed.
Gay rights and censorship
NCCL acted for the owners of ‘Gay’s the Word’ bookshop, whose stock was confiscated by Customs officers in 1984. All charges were dropped and the stock was returned.
Miners' strike
During the miners’ strike
UK miners' strike (1984–1985)
The UK miners' strike was a major industrial action affecting the British coal industry. It was a defining moment in British industrial relations, and its defeat significantly weakened the British trades union movement...
, NCCL campaigned on behalf of miners stopped from picketing outside their home regions.
MI5 surveillance
The European Court of Human Rights
European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is a supra-national court established by the European Convention on Human Rights and hears complaints that a contracting state has violated the human rights enshrined in the Convention and its protocols. Complaints can be brought by individuals or...
ruled that MI5
MI5
The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
surveillance of Harriet Harman
Harriet Harman
Harriet Ruth Harman QC is a British Labour Party politician, who is the Member of Parliament for Camberwell and Peckham, and was MP for the predecessorPeckham constituency from 1982 to 1997...
and Patricia Hewitt
Patricia Hewitt
Patricia Hope Hewitt is an Australian-born British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Leicester West from 1997 until 2010. She served in the Cabinet until 2007, most recently as Health Secretary....
during the pair’s tenure at Liberty breached the European Convention on Human Rights
European Convention on Human Rights
The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms is an international treaty to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by the then newly formed Council of Europe, the convention entered into force on 3 September 1953...
.
1990-2004
1989 had seen the NCCL rebranded, changing its name to "Liberty".Detention without charge
During the Gulf War
Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
, Liberty successfully campaigned for the release of over 100 Iraqi nationals – some of whom were openly opposed to Saddam Hussein – detained without charge in Britain on the grounds that they posed a risk to national security.
Miscarriage of justice
Throughout the 1990s Liberty focused again on miscarriage of justice cases and campaigned for reform of the criminal justice system. High profile cases included that of the Birmingham Six
Birmingham Six
The Birmingham Six were six men—Hugh Callaghan, Patrick Joseph Hill, Gerard Hunter, Richard McIlkenny, William Power and John Walker—sentenced to life imprisonment in 1975 in the United Kingdom for the Birmingham pub bombings. Their convictions were declared unsafe and quashed by the Court of...
, who were released after 16 years in prison for IRA bombings they didn’t commit.
Human Rights Act
In 1998 Liberty’s campaign to bring the European Convention on Human Rights
European Convention on Human Rights
The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms is an international treaty to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by the then newly formed Council of Europe, the convention entered into force on 3 September 1953...
into UK law finally succeeds with the passing of the Human Rights Act 1998
Human Rights Act 1998
The Human Rights Act 1998 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom which received Royal Assent on 9 November 1998, and mostly came into force on 2 October 2000. Its aim is to "give further effect" in UK law to the rights contained in the European Convention on Human Rights...
.
At the start of the 2000s, Liberty used the protections in the new Human Rights Act 1998
Human Rights Act 1998
The Human Rights Act 1998 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom which received Royal Assent on 9 November 1998, and mostly came into force on 2 October 2000. Its aim is to "give further effect" in UK law to the rights contained in the European Convention on Human Rights...
to fight a number of landmark cases, including supporting terminally-ill Diane Pretty
Diane Pretty
Diane Pretty was a British woman from Luton who became notable after being the focus of a debate about the laws of euthanasia in United Kingdom during the early part of the 21st century...
’s fight to die with dignity and Christine Goodwin’s successful bid to have her new gender legally recognised following discrimination and harassment at work.
A and others v Secretary of State for the Home Department
Liberty intervened in the long-running A and others v Secretary of State for the Home Department case which led to a crucially important decision for future government policy in 2004 when the Law Lords ruled that detaining non-British nationals without trial was unlawful. In a 2005 judgment the Law Lords also confirmed that evidence obtained through torture was not admissible in British courts.
Katherine Gun
In 2004, Liberty acted for the translator and whistleblower
Whistleblower
A whistleblower is a person who tells the public or someone in authority about alleged dishonest or illegal activities occurring in a government department, a public or private organization, or a company...
Katharine Gun
Katharine Gun
Katharine Teresa Gun is a former translator for Government Communications Headquarters , a British intelligence agency...
who claimed that the American National Security Agency
National Security Agency
The National Security Agency/Central Security Service is a cryptologic intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the collection and analysis of foreign communications and foreign signals intelligence, as well as protecting U.S...
had requested the British Government's help in illegal surveillance on the UN. She was prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act 1989
Official Secrets Act 1989
The Official Secrets Act 1989 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It repeals and replaces section 2 of the Official Secrets Act 1911. It is said to have removed the public interest defence created by that section....
. The charges were dropped when the prosecution failed to offer any evidence.
2005 onwards
Liberty's Legal Counsel Shami ChakrabartiShami Chakrabarti
Shami Chakrabarti CBE , has been the director of Liberty, a British pressure group, since September 2003. Chakrabarti is the Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University.-Early life:...
was appointed as Liberty's new director in September 2003. The organisation became increasingly high profile, with Chakrabarti making regular appearances in the media. She was described in The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
newspaper as "the most effective public affairs lobbyist of the past 20 years". .
Pre-charge detention
During 2007 and 2008 Liberty led the opposition to government plans to extend detention without charge for those suspected of terrorism
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
to 42 days. Liberty won a major campaign victory when the government dropped the proposal after it was rejected by the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
in October 2008.
Gooch Gang
In April 2009, Liberty controversially protested against a poster campaign by Greater Manchester Police
Greater Manchester Police
Greater Manchester Police is the police force responsible for law enforcement within the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester in North West England...
which depicted a series of notorious Manchester gangsters, the Gooch Gang as pensioners. The billboard campaign used computer-generated images of Colin Joyce and Lee Amos showed how the “aged” criminals would look when they are finally released from prison in the 2040s. Liberty supported claims that the posters should be removed following complaints from family members of the gangsters, not involved with their relative's criminality, who claimed they were being targeted in the community after the posters were erected.
Current campaigns include opposing unfair extradition
Extradition
Extradition is the official process whereby one nation or state surrenders a suspected or convicted criminal to another nation or state. Between nation states, extradition is regulated by treaties...
proceedings, the most prominent case being that of Gary McKinnon
Gary McKinnon
Gary McKinnon is a Scottish systems administrator and hacker who has been accused of what one U.S. prosecutor claims is the "biggest military computer hack of all time," although McKinnon himself states that he was merely looking for evidence of free energy suppression and a cover-up of UFO...
.
Organisation
The structure of Liberty comprises three organisations:- Liberty - an unincorporated association
- This is the member-based organisation which individuals can join.
- Liberty - the company
- This is the company that employs Liberty staff, leases buildings, etc.
- The Civil Liberties Trust
- This is a company and a charityCharitable organizationA charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...
, independent of Liberty
- This is a company and a charity
Causes and associations
The main issues that Liberty represents in the UK at the moment are:- TortureTortureTorture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
- PrivacyPrivacyPrivacy is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively...
- Asylum seekers
- EqualityEquality before the lawEquality before the law or equality under the law or legal egalitarianism is the principle under which each individual is subject to the same laws....
- Free speech and protest
- ASBOÅsboÅsbo can refer to:*Åsbo Northern Hundred, a hundred in Scania*Åsbo Southern Hundred, a hundred in Scania...
s - The Human Rights ActHuman Rights ActA human rights act is a statute that sets out individual rights and freedoms under the law. Many jurisdictions have bills of rights enshrined into law and called the "Human Rights Act". This naming convention is commonly used in Commonwealth nations...
- Young Peoples' rightsYouth rightsYouth rights refers to a set of philosophies intended to enhance civil rights for young people. They are a response to the oppression of young people, with advocates challenging ephebiphobia, adultism and ageism through youth participation, youth/adult partnerships, and promoting, ultimately,...
Liberty is also a supporter of the NO2ID
NO2ID
NO2ID, the public campaign, was formed in 2004 to campaign against the United Kingdom government's plans to introduce UK ID Cards and the associated National Identity Register, which it believes has negative implications for privacy, civil liberties and personal safety.NO2ID is entirely independent...
coalition.