Liberty (advocacy group)

Foundation and early years

The immediate spur to the organisation's formation was the National Hunger March of 1932.^[6] The first Secretary was Ronald Kidd, and first President was the novelist 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, Lewis Clive, Vera Brittain, Clement Attlee, Rebecca West, Edith Summerskill and Harold Laski were also founder members.^[7]

The National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL) was founded in 1934. The inaugural meeting took place in the church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London on 22 February. A letter published in The Times and The 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.^[8] The first campaign was against the criminalisation of pacifist or anti-war literature. Under the proposed Incitement to Disaffection Bill, commonly known as the 'Sedition Bill', it would have been a criminal offence to possess pacifist literature, for example anti-war pamphlets. Although the Bill became law as the Incitement to Disaffection Act 1934, NCCL succeeded in watering it down.^[7] Other prominent early themes included campaigning against fascists, against film censorship and support for striking miners in Nottinghamshire.^[9]

World War II

When Oswald Mosley was released from prison in 1943 (he had been imprisoned without trial under Defence Regulation 18B), the National Council for Civil Liberties demanded his continued imprisonment. A.W. Brian Simpson notes that the NCCL "had become an enthusiastic supporter of detention without trial".^[10] Harold Nicolson and 38 others resigned from the NCCL over the issue.^[11]

Liberty

In 1989, NCCL rebranded as "Liberty". During this period, the organisation was headed by Andrew Puddephatt and John Wadham.

On 10 September 2001, Shami Chakrabarti joined Liberty.^[12] After working as in-house counsel, she was appointed director of Liberty in 2003. As director, she began campaigning against what the pressure group saw as the "excessive" anti-terrorist measures that followed the 11 September 2001 attacks in the United States, such as the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 (ATCSA).^[13] Liberty 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".^[14][15]

Since the 2015 UK general election, Liberty has spearheaded the campaign to save the Human Rights Act. In August 2015, Chakrabarti said Liberty intended to become "more vigilant and active" in Scotland.^[16] She later shared a platform with Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to jointly defend the HRA.^[17]

In January 2016 it emerged that Chakrabarti was standing down as Liberty's director.^[18] Martha Spurrier took up the post at the end of May.^[19][20]

Since 2016, Liberty's work has been dominated by taking a High Court challenge to the Investigatory Powers Act, and campaigning against the so-called 'hostile environment' policies and for an end to the use of indefinite immigration detention in the UK.^[4][5] In Autumn 2019, the organisation set up Liberty Investigates, an editorially independent journalism unit that sits within Liberty. The unit formally launched in April 2020 with an initial focus on how the coronavirus pandemic is affecting Human Rights in the UK.^[21]

Discover more about History related topics

National Hunger March, 1932

National 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.

E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster

Edward Morgan Forster was an English author, best known for his novels, particularly A Room with a View (1908), Howards End (1910) and A Passage to India (1924).

A. P. Herbert

A. P. Herbert

Sir Alan Patrick Herbert CH, was an English humorist, novelist, playwright, law reformist, and, from 1935 to 1950, an independent Member of Parliament for Oxford University.

Kingsley Martin

Kingsley Martin

Basil Kingsley Martin usually known as Kingsley Martin, was a British journalist who edited the left-leaning political magazine the New Statesman from 1930 to 1960.

New Statesman

New Statesman

The New Statesman is a British political and cultural newsmagazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members of the socialist Fabian Society, such as George Bernard Shaw, who was a founding director.

H. G. Wells

H. G. Wells

Herbert George Wells was an English writer. Prolific in many genres, he wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. His non-fiction output included works of social commentary, politics, history, popular science, satire, biography and autobiography. Wells is now best remembered for his science fiction novels and has been called the "father of science fiction."

Lewis Clive

Lewis Clive

Lewis Clive was a British rower who won a gold medal in the 1932 Summer Olympics. He volunteered to fight for the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War and was killed in action.

Clement Attlee

Clement Attlee

Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, was a British statesman and politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955. He was Deputy Prime Minister during the wartime coalition government under Winston Churchill, and served twice as Leader of the Opposition from 1935 to 1940 and from 1951 to 1955. Attlee remains the longest serving Labour leader.

Edith Summerskill

Edith Summerskill

Edith Clara Summerskill, Baroness Summerskill, was a British physician, feminist, Labour politician and writer. She was appointed to the Privy Council in 1949.

Harold Laski

Harold Laski

Harold Joseph Laski was an English political theorist and economist. He was active in politics and served as the chairman of the British Labour Party from 1945 to 1946 and was a professor at the London School of Economics from 1926 to 1950. He first promoted pluralism by emphasising the importance of local voluntary communities such as trade unions. After 1930, he began to emphasize the need for a workers' revolution, which he hinted might be violent. Laski's position angered Labour leaders who promised a nonviolent democratic transformation. Laski's position on democracy threatening violence came under further attack from Prime Minister Winston Churchill in the 1945 general election, and the Labour Party had to disavow Laski, its own chairman.

Citizenship

Citizenship

Citizenship is an allegiance of person to a state.

Incitement to Disaffection Act 1934

Incitement to Disaffection Act 1934

The Incitement to Disaffection Act 1934 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that made it an offence to endeavour to seduce a member of HM Forces from his "duty or allegiance to His Majesty", thus expanding the ambit of the law.

Post-war

BBC ban

During the 1940s, the NCCL led protests against a BBC ban on artists who attended a 'People's Convention' organised by the Communist Party.^[7]

Soldiers' civil liberties

In the years following the Second World War, the NCCL campaigned for better civil liberties protections for members of the Armed Forces, including for better education and vocational training, a fairer military justice system and freedom of voluntary association.^[22]

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 was flawed. NCCL found a witness who confirmed the men's alibi and they were released from prison and granted a royal pardon.^[23]

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.^[24]

1960–1974

In the 1960s the organisation broadened its scope, particularly from 1966 under new general secretary Tony Smythe. It campaigned on racial issues, on behalf of gypsies, children, prisoners and servicemen who had changed their decision about joining the forces.^[9] This broader range of campaigning resulted in a large rise in membership and a higher profile in the media.^[25] It campaigned for the retaining of the public right to petition the ECHR, its General Secretary Martin Loney writing to the Prime Minister, Edward Heath. However, Loney was controversially sacked by the executive of the NCCL led by its chair, Henry Hodge. ^[26]

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.^[7]

Following Conservative MP Enoch Powell's Rivers of Blood speech in 1968 the NCCL set about organising an emergency "Speak out on Race" meeting and also presented an NCCL petition to the Prime Minister.

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.^[7]

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.^[7]

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.^[7]

Northern Ireland

In 1972 NCCL campaigned for civil rights in Northern Ireland.^[27]

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.^[7]

1975–1989

Near the end of 1974, Patricia Hewitt, later a Labour cabinet minister, was appointed as general secretary.^[9] 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 from 1978 to 1982, Jack Dromey, later her husband, was a member (1970–79) and chairman of the Executive Committee, and Diane Abbott was employed as Race Relations Officer (1978–80).^[28]

Paedophilia

In 1976, the NCCL in a submission to the Criminal Law Revision Committee of the British Parliament argued that "Childhood sexual experiences, willingly engaged in, with an adult result in no identifiable damage… The real need is a change in the attitude which assumes that all cases of paedophilia result in lasting damage". The NCCL 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.^[29] Organisations such as Paedophile Information Exchange (P.I.E.), a pro-paedophile activist group, and Paedophile Action for Liberation became affiliated to the pressure group.^[30] Prominent pro-paedophile activist Tom O'Carroll also sat on the NCCL's sub-committee for gay rights.^[31] Shami Chakrabarti, the former director of Liberty, issued an apology about the links between the NCCL and the PIE. In December 2013, she said: "It is a source of continuing disgust and horror that even the NCCL had to expel paedophiles from its ranks in 1983 after infiltration at some point in the 70s."^[32][33]

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 in 1986.^[34]

Miners' strike

During the miners' strike, NCCL campaigned on behalf of miners stopped from picketing outside their home regions.^[7]

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.^[23]

1990–2004

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.^[7]

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 did not commit.^[7]

Human Rights Act

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 fight for transgender rights.

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 following which 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.^[35]

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.^[23]

2005–2014

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.^[36] Chakrabarti and Liberty claimed a major campaign victory when the government dropped the proposal after it was rejected by the House of Lords in October 2008.^[37]

Gooch Gang

In April 2009, Liberty 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 to show 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 relatives' criminality, who claimed they were being targeted in the community after the posters were erected.^[38]

Cream of Conscience

November 2011 saw Liberty successfully assist in preventing Westminster City Council from implementing a proposed byelaw which would have essentially criminalised "soup runs" within areas of Southwark.^[39][40]

Freedom Games?

In response to the vast security systems which were put in place ahead of the London 2012 Olympic Games, Liberty raised concerns with regards to the infringements to civil liberties which would subsequently occur. Liberty argued that neither peaceful protest nor the right to free speech were a factor in ensuring the safety of the Games.^[41]

For their eyes only

Another prominent campaign in 2012 was "For their eyes only"^[42] in response to the proposed Justice and Security Bill which was introduced in the House of Lords on 28 May 2012. The Bill was introduced as a result of prolific media investigations and litigation surrounding the UK Government and proposed "secret courts"^[43] and evidence which would be non-disclosable. A campaign presence and attendance by Shami Chakrabarti at the Liberal Democrats Conference in September 2012 in Brighton successfully led to the passing of a motion by Jo Shaw, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Spokesperson for Holborn and St Pancras, against the Bill.^[44] Nevertheless, the substantially unchanged Bill became law in April 2013.^[45]

Extradition Watch

A prominent campaign by Liberty was in relation to fairer extradition laws and the opposition of unfair extradition proceedings, the most prominent case being that of Gary McKinnon who gained world wide press attention. Other prolific cases included that of Babar Ahmed, Talha Ahsan and Christopher Tappin.

Gary McKinnon

16 October 2012 saw a victory for Gary McKinnon, after a decade-long ordeal, as the Home Secretary, Theresa May, announced that she was refusing to allow Gary's extradition to the US on the basis that doing so would breach his Human Rights.^[46] Gary McKinnon was charged in 2002 of hacking into US military and NASA systems, but maintains that he was looking for UFOs and evidence of free energy suppression. Gary, who has Asperger syndrome, could have spent up to 70 years in a US jail if convicted^[47] and it was argued by his lawyers in an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) that because of this factor and because the crime was committed in the UK that he should be tried in the UK. Director of Liberty, Shami Chakrabarti said of the Home Secretary's decision "This is a great day for rights, freedoms and justice in the United Kingdom."^[48] The Home Office also admitted that it was the Human Rights Act which essentially prevented the extradition.^[49][50]

Gay rights

Liberty intervened in the case of gay couple Michael Black and John Morgan who were turned away from a bed and breakfast because of the owner's religious views. On 18 October 2012 it was ruled that the B&B owner was in breach of equality legislation by unlawfully discriminating against the couple on the basis of their sexual orientation. Liberty's Legal Director James Welch said of the decision "Hopefully today's ruling signals the death knell of such 'no gays' policies – policies that would never be tolerated if they referred to a person's race, gender or religion."^[51][52]

2015 onwards

Save our Human Rights Act

Immediately following the 2015 General Election result, Liberty launched a campaign to save the Human Rights Act. The Conservative Party – which had won a majority – had included a pledge in its manifesto to repeal the Act.^[53] Liberty called this "a knowing attempt by Government ministers to hand itself the right to end the universality of human rights and choose when and to whom they apply".^[54]

In May 2016, Liberty, Amnesty International UK and the British Institute of Human Rights published a statement opposing repeal of the Act, backed by more than 130 organisations including UK Families Flight 103, Friends of the Earth, Refuge, Quakers in Britain, Stonewall, the Terrence Higgins Trust, the Down's Syndrome Association and the Football Supporters' Federation.^[55]

In July 2015, Liberty coordinated an intervention from a number of former Anti-Apartheid campaigners including Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane and Denis Goldberg.^[56]

The Deepcut inquests

Liberty represents the families of three of four young soldiers who died of gunshot wounds at Deepcut army barracks between 1995 and 2002 – Cheryl James, Sean Benton and James Collinson.^[57] Liberty used the Human Rights Act to compel Surrey Police to disclose evidence about the deaths to the families, which they were then able to use to apply for fresh inquests.

The second inquest into the death of Cheryl James took place at Woking Coroner's Court from January to April 2016. On 3 June 2016, Coroner Brian Barker QC recorded a verdict of suicide, delivering a narrative verdict that strongly condemned the culture at Deepcut.^[58] Following the verdict, Liberty called for reform to tackle the "pervasive sexualised culture" in the Armed Forces.

The second inquest into the death of Sean Benton also took place from January to June 2018, also in Woking. On 18 July 2018, Coroner Peter Rook QC also recorded a verdict of suicide and again strongly criticised failings at Deepcut and in the Surrey Police investigation.^[59] Following the verdict, Liberty and Sean's family called for all serious crimes within the Armed Forces to be investigated by the civilian police, rather than the Royal Military Police.^[60]

Corporal Anne-Marie Ellement

Liberty represented the family of Corporal Anne-Marie Ellement, a Royal Military Police Office who took her own life in 2011 after alleging that she had been raped by two colleagues.^[57] The allegations were investigated by military police themselves, and no charges were brought.^[61]

An initial inquest in March 2012 recorded a verdict of suicide, but Anne-Marie's family, represented by Liberty, used the Human Rights Act to secure a second, more thorough inquest. They alleged that Anne-Marie had been bullied and that the Royal Military Police had failed in their duty of care.^[62]

On 3 July 2014, Nicholas Rheinberg – Coroner in the second inquest – ruled that bullying, the lingering effect of the alleged rape and "work-related despair" had contributed to Anne-Marie's suicide.^[61]

In 2013, Anne-Marie's family, represented by Liberty, also used the threat of legal action under the Human Rights Act to compel the Ministry of Defence and Royal Military Police to agree to refer the Anne-Marie's rape allegations for a fresh, independent investigation. This was carried out by RAF Police and Bedfordshire Police, overseen by the Crown Prosecution Service.^[63]

On 29 October 2015, the Service Prosecuting Authority announced that two former soldiers had been charged with raping Anne-Marie and stated that "the original decision by the SPA not to prosecute was 'wrong'".^[64] The two men were acquitted on 20 April 2016.^[65]

In October 2016, the Royal Military Police apologised to Anne-Marie's family for failings and mistakes in the original rape investigation.^[66]

In November 2017, the Ministry of Defence announced it would stop Commanding Officers investigating allegations of sexual assault themselves – a call Liberty had made from Corporal Ellement's 2014 inquest.^[67]

Mass surveillance

This section needs to be updated. The reason given is: [2019] EWHC 2057 (Admin). Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (December 2020)

Following Edward Snowden's whistleblowing in 2013, mass surveillance became a major part of Liberty's work.

Shortly after the revelations, Liberty brought a legal challenge to the UK government's practices with a coalition of other organisations, including Amnesty International, Privacy International and ACLU.^[68] In September 2018, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that GCHQ's bulk interception practices had violated privacy rights and failed to provide sufficient safeguards.^[69]

In 2014, Liberty represented MPs David Davis and Tom Watson in a legal challenge to the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act (DRIPA), claiming that it breached privacy rights.^[70] The case was referred to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) by the Court of Appeal, and in December 2016 the ECJ ruled that the general and indiscriminate retention of emails and electronic communications by governments was illegal.^[71] In January 2018, the Court of Appeal found DRIPA unlawful.^[72][73]

Throughout 2016, Liberty campaigned against what it believed to be a serious lack of privacy safeguards in the Investigatory Powers Bill. The Bill passed in November 2016. In January 2017, Liberty launched a crowdfunder to raise funds to challenge the Act in the High Court, raising more than £53,000 in a week.^[74]

Liberty's challenge to various parts of the Investigatory Powers Act is ongoing. In April 2018, the High Court issued its ruling on the first part of the challenge, giving the government six months to rewrite core parts of the Act, which it found incompatible with EU law.^[75][76]

Equal pensions for same-sex couples

Liberty represented John Walker in a legal challenge to a loophole in the Equality Act which let employers exempt same-sex spouses from spousal pension benefits. Upon retirement from Innospec, John had discovered that his husband would only receive a few hundred pounds a year. If he were married to a woman, she would have received around £45,000.

In July 2017, the Supreme Court found the loophole unlawful under EU law.^[77]

Hostile environment policies

Liberty campaigned against the introduction of the 'hostile environment' policies and has since campaigned for their repeal.^[78] It has also campaigned against data-sharing arrangements between immigration enforcement and public services including hospitals, schools and police. In August 2017, Liberty exposed that the Home Office had secretly gained access to nationality data on homeless people in London.^[79]

Facial recognition

In June 2018, Liberty announced it would be representing Cardiff resident Ed Bridges in a legal challenge to South Wales Police's use of facial recognition technology in public spaces.^[80] Liberty argues that the technology "is dangerously inaccurate and has the potential to trample on the freedoms we all take for granted".^[81]

Immigration detention

In January 2017, Liberty launched a campaign calling for a 28-day statutory limit on immigration detention in the UK.^[5]

Discover more about Campaigns related topics

BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is the national broadcaster of the United Kingdom, based at Broadcasting House in London, England. It is the world's oldest national broadcaster, and the largest broadcaster in the world by number of employees, employing over 21,000 staff in total, of whom approximately 17,900 are in public-sector broadcasting.

Communist Party of Great Britain

Communist Party of Great Britain

The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPGB founded the Daily Worker. In 1936, members of the party were present at the Battle of Cable Street, helping organise resistance against the British Union of Fascists. In the Spanish Civil War the CPGB worked with the USSR to create the British Battalion of the International Brigades, which party activist Bill Alexander commanded.

Miscarriage of justice

Miscarriage of justice

A miscarriage of justice occurs when a grossly unfair outcome occurs in a criminal or civil proceeding, such as the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime they did not commit. Miscarriages are also known as wrongful convictions. Innocent people have sometimes ended up in prison for years before their conviction has eventually been overturned. They may be exonerated if new evidence comes to light or it is determined that the police or prosecutor committed some kind of misconduct at the original trial. In some jurisdictions this leads to the payment of compensation.

Confession (law)

Confession (law)

In the law of criminal evidence, a confession is a statement by a suspect in crime which is adverse to that person. Some secondary authorities, such as Black's Law Dictionary, define a confession in more narrow terms, e.g. as "a statement admitting or acknowledging all facts necessary for conviction of a crime," which would be distinct from a mere admission of certain facts that, if true, would still not, by themselves, satisfy all the elements of the offense. The equivalent in civil cases is a statement against interest.

Alibi

Alibi

An alibi is a statement by a person, who is a possible perpetrator of a crime, of where they were at the time a particular offence was committed, which is somewhere other than where the crime took place. During a police investigation, all possible suspects are usually asked to provide details of their whereabouts during the relevant time period, which where possible would usually be confirmed by other persons or in other ways.

Mental health

Mental health

Mental health encompasses emotional, psychological, and social well-being, influencing cognition, perception, and behavior. It likewise determines how an individual handles stress, interpersonal relationships, and decision-making. Mental health includes subjective well-being, perceived self-efficacy, autonomy, competence, intergenerational dependence, and self-actualization of one's intellectual and emotional potential, among others. From the perspectives of positive psychology or holism, mental health may include an individual's ability to enjoy life and to create a balance between life activities and efforts to achieve psychological resilience. Cultural differences, subjective assessments, and competing professional theories all affect how one defines "mental health". Some early signs related to mental health difficulties are sleep irritation, lack of energy, lack of appetite and thinking of harming yourself or others.

Mental Health Act 1959

Mental Health Act 1959

The Mental Health Act 1959 was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning England and Wales which had, as its main objectives, to abolish the distinction between psychiatric hospitals and other types of hospitals and to deinstituitionalise mental health patients and see them treated more by community care.

Edward Heath

Edward Heath

Sir Edward Richard George Heath, often known as Ted Heath, was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 to 1975. Heath also served for 51 years as a Member of Parliament from 1950 to 2001. Outside politics, Heath was a yachtsman, a musician, and an author.

Henry Hodge

Henry Hodge

Sir Henry Egar Garfield Hodge professionally styled The Hon Mr Justice Hodge, was an English solicitor and Judge of the High Court of England and Wales.

Immigration law

Immigration law

Immigration law includes the national statutes, regulations, and legal precedents governing immigration into and deportation from a country. Strictly speaking, it is distinct from other matters such as naturalization and citizenship, although they are sometimes conflated. Countries frequently maintain laws that regulate both the rights of entry and exit as well as internal rights, such as the duration of stay, freedom of movement, and the right to participate in commerce or government.

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares an open border to the south and west with the Republic of Ireland. In 2021, its population was 1,903,100, making up about 27% of Ireland's population and about 3% of the UK's population. The Northern Ireland Assembly, established by the Northern Ireland Act 1998, holds responsibility for a range of devolved policy matters, while other areas are reserved for the UK Government. The government of Northern Ireland cooperates with the government of the Republic of Ireland in several areas agreed under the terms of the Belfast Agreement. The Republic of Ireland also has a consultative role on non-devolved governmental matters through the British-Irish Governmental Conference (BIIG).

Evening Standard

Evening Standard

The Evening Standard, formerly The Standard (1827–1904), also known as the London Evening Standard, is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format.

Liberty is both a non-profit company that employs staff and runs campaigns, and a member-based association. Both work closely with the Civil Liberties Trust. Liberty is divided into three organisations:

• Liberty – an unincorporated association

A democratically run membership association, which individuals can join.^[82]

• Liberty – the company

A non-profit company that employs staff and runs campaigns etc. It leases buildings and works closely with the Civil Liberties Trust (see below).^[82]

• The Civil Liberties Trust

The Civil Liberties Trust (CLT) is a registered charity (No. 1024948), independent of Liberty. The CLT has no staff, but commissions Liberty to conduct charitable work such as providing public advice and information, also research, policy work, and litigation.^[83]

This section is about an event or subject that may not be current but does not specify the time period. Please help improve it to include this information. The talk page may contain suggestions. (July 2018)

The main issues Liberty is campaigning in 2018 include:

• Mass surveillance
• Police use of facial recognition and other intrusive surveillance technology such as IMSI catchers
• Human rights in the UK after Brexit
• Hostile environment policies and public service data-sharing with UK immigration enforcement
• Soldiers' rights, in particularly campaigning for an overhaul of the military justice system
• Immigration detention
• Public spaces protection orders

In addition, Liberty campaigns on a number of 'core' issues that remain constant:

• Torture
• Privacy
• Free speech
• Equality
• Protest rights
• Policing

Discover more about Causes and associations related topics

Mass surveillance in the United Kingdom

Mass surveillance in the United Kingdom

The use of electronic surveillance by the United Kingdom grew from the development of signal intelligence and pioneering code breaking during World War II. In the post-war period, the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) was formed and participated in programmes such as the Five Eyes collaboration of English-speaking nations. This focused on intercepting electronic communications, with substantial increases in surveillance capabilities over time. A series of media reports in 2013 revealed bulk collection and surveillance capabilities, including collection and sharing collaborations between GCHQ and the United States' National Security Agency. These were commonly described by the media and civil liberties groups as mass surveillance. Similar capabilities exist in other countries, including western European countries.

Facial recognition system

Facial recognition system

A facial recognition system is a technology capable of matching a human face from a digital image or a video frame against a database of faces. Such a system is typically employed to authenticate users through ID verification services, and works by pinpointing and measuring facial features from a given image.

IMSI-catcher

IMSI-catcher

An international mobile subscriber identity-catcher, or IMSI-catcher, is a telephone eavesdropping device used for intercepting mobile phone traffic and tracking location data of mobile phone users. Essentially a "fake" mobile tower acting between the target mobile phone and the service provider's real towers, it is considered a man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack. The 3G wireless standard offers some risk mitigation due to mutual authentication required from both the handset and the network. However, sophisticated attacks may be able to downgrade 3G and LTE to non-LTE network services which do not require mutual authentication.

Brexit

Brexit

Brexit was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020. The UK is the only sovereign country to have left the EU. The UK had been a member state of the EU or its predecessor the European Communities (EC), sometimes of both at the same time, since 1 January 1973. Following Brexit, EU law and the Court of Justice of the European Union no longer have primacy over British laws, except in select areas in relation to Northern Ireland. The European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 retains relevant EU law as domestic law, which the UK can now amend or repeal. Under the terms of the Brexit withdrawal agreement, Northern Ireland continues to participate in the European Single Market in relation to goods, and to be a de facto member of the EU Customs Union.

Home Office hostile environment policy

Home Office hostile environment policy

The UK Home Office hostile environment policy is a set of administrative and legislative measures designed to make staying in the United Kingdom as difficult as possible for people without leave to remain, in the hope that they may "voluntarily leave". The Home Office policy was first announced in 2012 under the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition. The policy was widely seen as being part of a strategy of reducing UK immigration figures to the levels promised in the 2010 Conservative Party Election Manifesto.

Military justice

Military justice

Military justice is the legal system that governs the conduct of the active-duty personnel of the armed forces of a country. In some nation-states, civil law and military law are distinct bodies of law, which respectively govern the conduct of civil society and the conduct of the armed forces; each body of law has specific judicial procedures to enforce the law. Among the legal questions unique to a system of military justice are the practical preservation of good order and discipline, command responsibility, the legality of orders, war-time observation of the code of conduct, and matters of legal precedence concerning civil or military jurisdiction over the civil offenses and the criminal offenses committed by active-duty military personnel.

Immigration detention in the United Kingdom

Immigration detention in the United Kingdom

Immigration detention in the United Kingdom is the practice of detaining foreign nationals for the purpose of immigration control. Unlike some other countries, UK provisions to detain are not outlined in a codified constitution. Instead, immigration enforcement holds individuals under Powers granted in the Immigration Act 1971 and by the Home Office Detention Centre Rules (2001). The expressed purpose of immigration detention is to "effect removal; initially to establish a person's identity or basis of claim; or [implement] where there is reason to believe that the person will fail to comply with any conditions attached to a grant of immigration bail." Detention can only lawfully be exercised under these provisions where there is a "realistic prospect of removal within a reasonable period".

Public spaces protection order

Public spaces protection order

Public spaces protection orders (PSPOs) are orders under the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 which ban specific acts in a designated geographical area in England and Wales as set out in the act. They replace the earlier designated public place orders, gating orders and dog control orders.

Privacy

Privacy

Privacy is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves, and thereby express themselves selectively.

Freedom of speech

Freedom of speech

Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recognised as a human right in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international human rights law by the United Nations. Many countries have constitutional law that protects free speech. Terms like free speech, freedom of speech, and freedom of expression are used interchangeably in political discourse. However, in a legal sense, the freedom of expression includes any activity of seeking, receiving, and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used.

Equality before the law

Equality before the law

Equality before the law, also known as equality under the law, equality in the eyes of the law, legal equality, or legal egalitarianism, is the principle that all people must be equally protected by the law. The principle requires a systematic rule of law that observes due process to provide equal justice, and requires equal protection ensuring that no individual nor group of individuals be privileged over others by the law. Sometimes called the principle of isonomy, it arises from various philosophical questions concerning equality, fairness and justice. Equality before the law is one of the basic principles of some definitions of liberalism. It is incompatible with legal slavery.

Law enforcement in the United Kingdom

Law enforcement in the United Kingdom

Law enforcement in the United Kingdom is organised separately in each of the legal systems of the United Kingdom: England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. Most law enforcement is carried out by police officers serving in regional police services within one of those jurisdictions. These regional services are complemented by UK-wide agencies, such as the National Crime Agency and the national specialist units of certain territorial police forces, such as the Specialist Operations directorate of the Metropolitan Police.

1932: Ronald Kidd

1942: Elizabeth Acland Allen

1960: Martin Ennals

1966: Tony Smythe

1973: Martin Loney

1974: Patricia Hewitt

1984: Larry Gostin

1985: Sarah Spencer

1989: Andrew Puddephatt

1995: John Wadham

2003: Shami Chakrabarti

2016: Martha Spurrier

Discover more about General secretaries and directors related topics

Ronald Kidd

Ronald Kidd

Ronald Hubert Kidd was a British civil rights campaigner.

Martin Ennals

Martin Ennals

Martin Ennals was a British human rights activist. Ennals served as the secretary-general of Amnesty International from 1968 to 1980. He went on to help found the British human rights organisation ARTICLE 19 in 1987 and International Alert in 1985.

Patricia Hewitt

Patricia Hewitt

Patricia Hope Hewitt is an Australian-born British government adviser and former politician who served as Secretary of State for Health from 2005 to 2007. A member of the Labour Party, she previously served as Secretary of State for Trade and Industry from 2001 to 2005.

Larry Gostin

Larry Gostin

Lawrence Oglethorpe Gostin is an American law professor who specializes in public health law. He was a Fulbright Fellow and is best known as the author of the Model State Emergency Health Powers Act and as a significant contributor to journals on medicine and law.

Shami Chakrabarti

Shami Chakrabarti

Sharmishta Chakrabarti, Baroness Chakrabarti, is a British politician, barrister, and human rights activist. A member of the Labour Party, she served as the director of Liberty, a major advocacy group which promotes civil liberties and human rights, from 2003 to 2016. From 2016 to 2020, she served as Shadow Attorney General for England and Wales.

Martha Spurrier

Martha Spurrier

Martha Spurrier is a British barrister and human rights campaigner. She is the director of the advocacy group Liberty, succeeding Shami Chakrabarti.

Liberty produces briefings on its campaign issues, as well as researching and writing reports on particular areas of human rights and civil liberties.

Reports

• A Guide to the Hostile Environment: The border controls dividing our communities and how we can bring them down. April 2018.
• Bringing human rights home? What's at stake for rights in the incorporation of EU law after Brexit. February 2018.
• Military Justice: Proposals for a fair and independent military justice system. June 2014. ISBN 978-0-946088-62-1
• A Journalist's Guide to the Human Rights Act. January 2011. ISBN 978-0-946088-60-7
• Parliamentarian's Guide to the Human Rights Act (PDF) (Report). September 2010. ISBN 978-0-946088-58-4.
• Common Sense - Reflections on the HRA book (PDF) (Report). June 2010. ISBN 978-0-946088-57-7.
• Comparative Law Study - Pre-charge Detention (PDF) (Report). July 2010.
• a Manifesto for Justice (PDF) (Report). the Bar Council. December 2009.
• Churchill's Legacy - the Conservative Case for the HRA (PDF) (Report). October 2009. ISBN 978-0-946088-56-0.
• Overlooked: Surveillance and personal privacy in modern Britain (PDF) (Report). December 2007.
• Setting the record straight: the Dangers of 'Off the Record' Briefings to the Media During Police Counter-Terrorist Operations (PDF) (Report). May 2007.
• Litigating the Public Interest, July 2006^[84]
• Twelve Point Terror Package Initial Thoughts, August 2005^[85]
• Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005 summary^[86]
• Impact of Anti-Terror Measures on British Muslims, June 2004^[87]
• ID Card Bill key points, 2004^[88]
• A New 'Suspect Community', October 2003^[89]
• Rights of victims of crime, February 2003^[90]
• Magistrates Court Review, February 2003^[91]
• Casualty of War – Counter Terror Legislation in Rural England, 2003^[92]
• An Independent Police Complaints Commission, April 2000^[93]

Policy Papers

Being a cross-party, non-party political organisation, Liberty regularly publishes briefings to MPs and peers, to provide consultation to parliamentary committees and to respond to consultations on issues relating to human rights and civil liberties in the UK.^[94]