Liberty Summer 2010 v3
Transcript of Liberty Summer 2010 v3
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ISSN 1465-5276
Liberty, formerly Civil Liberty Agenda,
is published quarterly by Liberty, the
National Council for Civil Liberties, 21
Tabard Street, London SE1 4LA
www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk
Editor Sarah JacksonDesign Sparkloop (www.sparkloop.com)
Print Reex Litho Ltd
Liberty is afliated to the Federation
Internationale des ligues des Droits de
lHomme (FIDH)
In thIs Issue:
news In BrIef
Liberty supports gay couplein B&B discrimination case;Investigating election daychaos; Child immigrationdetention case; Torture andsecrecy; Why Liberty isintervening in John Gaunts
case against Ofcom 2-3
CampaIgn news
Act now to end control orderswith our new Liberty Guide toCampaigning 4
parlIament watCh
Policy Ofcer Anita Coles takes
a closer look at the proposals in
the Queens Speech 5
every sIngle woman
Introducing Asylum Aids
campaign to highlight the
experiences of women inthe asylum system 8
lIBertys new home
Director of Development LeeRodwell answers your questions 9
IntervIew
Erasing David director David
Bond talks to us about his
feature documentary 10
memBershIp news
News, notices and ways to get
involved with our campaigns 11
30 seCond IntervIew
Libertys receptionist answers
our questions 12a b i hri ac ?The new Government has already ushered in some
huge victories for rights and freedoms in the UK
but the future of the HRA still hangs in the balance Page 6
Prime Minister David
Cameron and Deputy
Prime Minister Nick CleggTHEPRImEmINISTERSOFFICE,2010
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News in brief
The new coalition Government has bound itself together with
the language of civil liberties, and there is much to celebrate
in their initial proposals. Scrapping the ID card scheme and
the National Identity Register, adopting a smarter and fairer
DNA retention regime, and repealing scores of unnecessary
criminal and counter-terror laws will address some of the
erosions of fundamental rights and freedoms we have fought
together in recent years.
We are also told, however, that a Commission will be
established to investigate replacing the Human Rights Act. This
may be the rst and most crucial test of the new coalition. The
Liberal Democrats have been among the proudest defenders of
the Human Rights Act, while some Conservatives instinctivelyprefer British liberties freedom that attaches to nationality
rather than humanity. I am proud to be a national of a country
that can count free speech, fair trials and the rule against torture
among its ner virtues. But a retreat from human rights towards
citizens privileges is the road back to Guantnamo Bay.
In the coming months we will be working to make sure the
promised changes are delivered fairly, that control orders and
lengthy pre-charge detention are mopped up with the other
excesses of the War on Terror, and that nothing undermines the
common values protected by our Human Rights Act.
We cant do it without you. Please continue your vital support
for our campaigns, and together well continue to ght for our
rights and freedoms and hold every new government to account.
Shami Chakrabarti
Director of Liberty
ichael Black and John organ booked a room and paid a
deposit for their stay at a Berkshire Bed and Breakfast, but
were turned away by the owners when they arrived at the B&B
in arch. Despite protestations from r Black that this could
be unlawful discrimination, the owners refused to allow the
couple to stay as it was 'against their convictions'.
Liberty is supporting r Black and r organ in their
discrimination claim. We believe this case is as important to
the principle of non-discrimination as Rosa Parks' refusal to
go to the back of the bus. A business with a "no gays policy"
is as bad as one that says "no blacks; no Irish". Liberty
defends the rights of religious
groups to preach their beliefs,
even when we disagree with
them, but not to discriminate
in the provision of goods
and services.
Liberty supports gay couple
in B&B discrimination case
Torture & SecrecyShami
Chakrabarti
In ay Liberty welcomed the new coalition Governments
announcement of an inquiry into alleged British complicity in
torture, just weeks after the Court of Appeal again rejected the
former Governments attempt to subvert open justice in the
case of Binyam ohamed.
Binyam ohamed and other former detainees have been
seeking to sue the UK government for complicity in torture
and the previous Government had asked the Court to adopt
a secret procedure for the hearing of the case. Under this
procedure the claimants and their lawyers would be excluded
from the hearing and from seeing the judgment in their case.
Liberty, Justice and a number of media outlets intervened in
the case to defend the principles of open justice under thecommon law, and at the start of ay the Court ruled against
the Government.
The slow drip of revelations about British complicity in
torture has undermined trust in our public servants. We will
be calling for the new inquiry to be led by a senior judge
with no obvious connections to the security establishment
and allowed full access to all levels of classied material at
home and abroad. It must cover the wide range of allegations
including use of UK airspace and territory and the extent of
the security establishments knowledge of interrogations by
third parties and any ndings must be presented openly and
transparently.
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Some members may have been surprised to hear last year that
Liberty is intervening in support of shock jock Jon Gaunts case
against Ofcom. After all he once called Libertys director the most
dangerous woman in Britain. But this is an important case about
freedom of expression protected by article 10 of the Human
Rights Act and we put past jibes to one side in order to defend
an act of political free speech.
Jon Gaunts job on TalkSport radio was to encourage lively
debate in a style that is famously colourful and frequently offensive.
During a heated live interview about Redbridge Councils policy ofbanning smokers from becoming foster parents, r Gaunt called a
Conservative Councillor a nazi, a health nazi and an ignorant
pig. He later apologised on air, but was sacked by TalkSport
within days of the interview. Ofcoms subsequent nding that r
Gaunt had breached the Broadcasting Code effectively vindicated
TalkSports decision.
There are of course limits on free speech and it would be
nonsensical to protect absolutely one persons right to speak freely
when this would have a grave impact on the rights of others
incitement to murder being an obvious example. But there is no
right not to be offended. Ofcoms regulatory duty was to decide
whether the TalkSport interview constituted a failure to protect the
public from material that is harmful. In the circumstances, Ofcomsnding sets a dangerous precedent against freedom of expression,
within which the right to speak freely on political matters is
deserving of the greatest constitutional protection.
Liberty is intervening in an important High Court case which
concerns the detention of children in immigration removal
centres. We welcome the new Governments commitment to
end detention of children for immigration purposes and hope
that, if the politicians do not act as promised, the Court will act
to bring an end to this shameful practice.
A judicial review and Human Rights Act claim has been
issued by a number of women who were (and in some cases,
remain) detained at Yarls Wood Immigration Removal Centre.
Two of those women were detained along with their young
children.
Liberty has long campaigned for an end to the administrative
detention of children. On average, over 1,000 children a year are
detained in the UK by virtue of their immigration status. All the
evidence shows that the impact of immigration detention on a
child is profound and long-lasting. These children are already
vulnerable by virtue of their immigration status and often their
life experiences. Detention can lead to depression, anxiety,
sleep problems and eating problems. Not to mention a lack of
access to consistent education and healthcare provision and
the wider consequences of suddenly being removed from their
school, their friends and their community.
Home Ofce ministers have repeatedly stated publicly that
children should only be detained in exceptional circumstances
and very close to their removal from the country. But evidence
from the experts suggests that this is not happening. Families
are often detained for lengthy periods of time, only to be
released into the community again, raising the question as to
why their detention was deemed necessary in the rst place.
Liberty has teamed up to make this intervention with Bail for
Immigration Detainees and we are hopeful that the case will add
weight to the new political momentum on this vital issue.
On election day hundreds of people were left queuing outside
polling stations across England, meaning that many potential
voters were disenfranchised. Liberty is calling for peopleprevented from exercising their fundamental right to vote to
contact us with a view to further action.
Article 3 of the First Protocol to the European Convention
on Human Rights requires that elections take place under
conditions which will ensure the free expression of the opinion
of the people in the choice of the legislature.
We welcomed the Electoral Commission investigation and
report on the shameful scenes on election day, in particular
the suggestion that the law should be claried to make clear
that people queuing at 10pm can still vote. But this could
have been achieved by applying human rights principles and
common sense.
Liberty will use all legal and campaigning means to ensure
that this disgrace is never repeated. If you feel you were
denied your right to vote, please help us by sharing your
experiences and completing the questionnaire available to
download on our website www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk
Why Liberty is intervening
in John Gaunts caseagainst Ofcom
Detention of children inimmigration centres
Liberty investigatesvoting chaos
Yarls Wood Immigration Detention Centre
SECRETLONDON123,2010
OLIv
ERWHITE,2005
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Time to repeal control orders
Sadly, ays Queens Speech included no mention of control
orders, the previous Governments unsafe and unfair alternative
to charge and trial for terror suspects.
Yet in 2010 control orders are looking more and more like a
relic from times past. Now theres a chance to end this policy
neither of the coalition partners have voted in favour of the
orders for three years.
Control orders in brief
Control orders began as a response to a High Court judgmentwhich ruled unlawful the practice of holding terror suspects in
Belmarsh prison for indenite periods and with no trial.
Like extended pre-charge detention, control orders are a
form of punishment without trial. They grossly undermine British
traditions of fair trial and the presumption of innocence. Such
counter-productive measures stir up resentment and fear among
communities and fail to keep us safe from the real threat of
terrorism.
In fact control orders allow suspects to live at home in the
community, broadly free to come and go. A number of so-called
controlees have disappeared, and plastic tags didnt stop
one former controlee from turning up at large public meetings
attended by Cabinet ministers.
On the other hand the restrictions under an order are broad
and indenite. The control order regime has been chipped away
at by successive legal judgments over the last few years, but
the lengthy daily curfew, electronic tag, ban on communication
equipment in the home and constant monitoring from the
police are powerful cruelties for people who may have faced no
charge.
Without the chance to defend themselves in the courts and
test the evidence against them, controlees live in a state of
limbo between suspicion and proof. Needless to say this regime
affects not only the suspect, but their families too.
What you can doany of you have already written to your P asking them to
vote against control orders. But with a new government in place
this is the perfect opportunity to do it again, no matter what
party your P belongs to.
This coalition Government has bound itself together with the
language of fundamental rights and freedoms. Lets ask them to
show us how far their commitment to human rights goes.
Please write to your P and ask them to take this
opportunity to end control orders. You can do so by
visiting www.unsafeunfair.org.uk or by writing to your
P at the House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA
Our End Control Orders petition is nearly at the 3,000
mark help us reach it by signing up online at www.
unsafeunfair.org.uk or by writing to us at 21 Tabard
Street, London, SE1 4LA
Campaign news
NEW Liberty Guide to CampaigningLife, liberty, free speech, fair trials, personal privacy, no
torture. Whatever the issue use our updated campaign guide
to take action and make your voice heard.
Our members play a vital lobbying role. From outlawing
forced labour to preventing the extension of pre-charge
detention, your campaigning really does make a difference.
With political threats to the Human Rights Act surviving
the new coalition, control orders and a lengthy pre-charge
detention limit of 28 days we need you to act now. You
should have already received your campaign guide in the
post, please contact us for extra copies on 020 7403 3888 or
Asylum election pledgeThanks to your lobbying over 1,000 parliamentary candidates
signed up to our election pledge to reject racism and
xenophobia and remember the importance of the right to
asylum.
We worked with the Refugee Council and the Scottish
Refugee Council to ensure that this election campaign
remained respectful of asylum seekers and our responsibility
to those in genuine fear of persecution.
Did your P sign? Find out at www.liberty-human-rights.
org.uk. 218 Ps in Parliament signed the pledge in the run-
up to the election. Look out for any votes or statements thatyour P makes that run counter to the pledge and let us
know help us hold them to their promise.
Campaigns Assistant Ellen Berry
updates on our work and how you
can get involved
s c
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Parliament watch
The 2010 Queens speech, with its language of freedom
and liberty was music to the ears of many. Its promise to
restore freedoms and civil liberties represents a signicant
break from the past. The speeches of recent memory have struck
a very different tone introducing offence after offence, even
greater police powers and attacking hard won rights and freedoms.
Liberty has campaigned long and hard for many of the policy
commitments announced by the coalition and we will now be
working to hold the new Government to its word.
Particularly welcome is the Identity Documents Bill which
will repeal the ill-fated ID card scheme and the National Identity
Database. This long-awaited measure is hugely important. TheID card scheme was poised to take us into uncharted territory
allowing unprecedented amounts of personal information to be
stored, sifted and accessed realigning the relationship between
the individual and the state. However, the repeal of ID cards is
intended only to apply for British citizens and not foreign nationals.
While the requirement to hold a visa to work and study in the UK
is an accepted part of immigration control, requiring foreigners but
not British nationals to have compulsory ID cards is divisive and
objectionable. We will be calling on the Government to scrap ID
cards for everyone in the UK.
We are also very pleased to see the introduction of a
Freedom (Great Repeal) Bill to restore freedoms and civil liberties
and repeal unnecessary laws. We have campaigned long and
hard for many of the proposals promised by this Bill. These
include amending the law on DNA retention; protecting the right to
trial by jury; reviewing libel laws to protect free speech; restoring
rights to non-violent protest; safeguarding against the misuse of
anti-terrorism legislation; regulating CCT; and ending the storage
of internet and email records without good reason. We also
expect the Bill will open up other opportunities to roll back
some of the worst erosions of rights and freedoms. Not least the
unsafe and unfair control order regime; stop and search powers
under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 and the regulation of
surveillance powers.
Less welcome is the Police Reform and Social Responsibility
Bill which proposes to make the police service more accountable
to local people by directly electing those who exercise oversight.We have previously voiced our concerns about the over-
politicisation of the police force. Local scrutiny of budgets and
other administrative matters is one thing but any proposals for
directly electing those with control over operational matters would
be of huge concern. Party politics should never be a part of
policing and police forces must retain operational independence.
We also have concerns about the proposed creation of a
dedicated Border Police Force and the signal this sends that
immigration is criminally suspicious per se. The Bill is also likely to
contain proposals to give police the powers they need to tackle
anti-social behaviour. With already innumerable and over-broad
powers available in respect of anti-social behaviour we will be
questioning the need for further powers.
We will be closely scrutinising the proposed Terrorist Asset
Freezing Bill. Earlier this year the then Government rushed through
legislation in just two days validating terrorist asset freezingorders which the Supreme Court had struck down. These orders
deprive suspects of their means of support. We are pleased that
appropriate time will now be given to Parliament to properly debate
these highly intrusive powers and we will be pressing to ensure
appropriate safeguards are put in place.
The coalitions Programme for Government published shortly
before the Queens Speech also included a number of proposals
that are not part of the forthcoming legislative programme. We
were thrilled to see the commitment to end the detention of
children for immigration purposes, and we will be calling on the
Government to urgently implement this important policy. We are
also concerned that proposals to scrap the Contact Point database
(which will hold details of every child in the UK) and to outlaw the
ngerprinting of children at school without parental consent, have
not been included in the legislative programme.
One of our major priorities is the repeal of control orders and we
will continue to push for a full and public independent inquiry into
the UKs role in the War on Terror. Early public statements on the
latter have been promising.Its going to be another busy year for Libertys policy team.
There are many opportunities for Liberty to achieve what we have
long been campaigning for and we hope you will continue to help
us with this important task.
Policy Ofcer Anita Coles looks at the
new Governments proposals
Qsc2010
Party politics should never
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Cover story
A newdawn...
Libertys Policy
Director Bella Sankey
on conicting signalsfrom the coalition T
he new politics of an historic Government has already
ushered in some huge victories for rights and freedoms in
the UK. For this the new coalition must be congratulated.
But what of the fate of the Human Rights Act? Well conrmingworst fears and remaining true to earlier public statements, the
Conservative Party anifesto included a pledge to scrap the HRA
if elected. This promise was accompanied by a commitment to
replace the Act with a UK Bill of Rights content undened. The
Liberal Democrat anifesto was similarly unequivocal but promisedsomething completely different. If elected, they would ensure that
everyone has the same protections under the law by protecting the
Human Rights Act.
So how have these conicting promises been reconciled?
How have these conicting
promises been reconciled?
but is the HumanRights Act safe?
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First, after days of closely guarded coalition talks it looked at
rst as though the issue was going to be airbrushed away. There
was no mention of the HRA in the initial coalition agreement a
gaping omission from a document that included many important
commitments on human rights. Indeed we knew early on thatthe coalition had found (welcome) agreement on a whole host of
issues pledging to scrap ID cards, end the immigration detention
of children, restore the right to non-violent protest, create a fairer
and more proportionate DNA database and more. However vague
some of these promises, in these and other areas we can be
certain that some level of early agreement was found. This was
either by way of compromise or because one or other of the new
coalition partners made the issue a non-negotiable.
Not so for the HRA. The future of our modern-day Bill of
Rights could apparently not be compromised away. This is, of
course, as it should be and not necessarily surprising. Repeal or
early amendment of the Act would surely have been a strange
and paradoxical move for a coalition that has so far bound itself
together with the language of civil liberties. However while the Act
may have earned a temporary reprieve the HRAs absence fromthe initial agreement was an early sign that it had not been made a
non-negotiable in the coalition discussions.
Some reassurance about the temporary safety of the Act
came with the Cabinet announcements. The newly appointed
Conservative Lord Chancellor, Ken Clarke, was an early critic of
Conservative plans to rip up the Act. Before being brought back
into the shadow Cabinet he put paid to the debate on a British
Bill of Rights, describing it as xenophobic and legal nonsense.
For his part, the new Deputy Prime inister, Nick Clegg, has been
passionate in his defence of the Act, as have his colleagues.
Nevertheless politics, we are told, is the art of compromise.
And this was certainly the fear of a number of delegates at the
Liberal Democrat Special Conference in Birmingham on 16 ay.
The Conference motion to back the coalition deal was amended
with overwhelming support to call on Liberal Democrat inisters
and Ps to protect the HRA and oppose moves by any party or
individual to towards repeal of this Act. So far so good.
But then came the earliest and hardest of tests. Before
the ink had dried on the rst coalition agreement, the Special
Immigration Appeals Tribunal handed down a ruling which said
that two Pakistani terror suspects could not be deported because
deportation would put them at real risk of being subjected to
torture or inhuman and degrading treatment and would put the
Government in breach of Article 3 of the HRA. As the judgment
broke, the all-too-familiar demands for the Human Rights Act to
be ripped up were unleashed. Promisingly, these calls were not
met with sympathy at the Home Department. In a break with therecent past, Government ministers did not take to the airwaves to
accuse irresponsible judges of undermining national security or to
complain that their hands were tied by unbalanced human rights
legislation.
However on the afternoon that the SIAC judgment was handed
down the BBC reported that the Government was about to
announce a Commission to look into the workings of the HRA.
Rumour, speculation and spin soon hardened into fact when the
coalitions Programme for Government was published the following
day. The fudge?
Perhaps as intended, this commitment can be interpreted in two
ways. It is either a convenient mechanism for kicking the issue into
the long grass or the beginning of attempts to dismantle or dilute
the HRA. The creation of a Commission can certainly tape over
this particular fault line for the time being but not forever. While
the apparent commitment to obligations under the ECHR is better
than the alternative it is not as good as a rm commitment to the
HRA and its unique protections. Any new Bill of Rights will have
to ensure nothing less to command Liberal Democrat support.
Yet the HRA benchmark will not wash with some Conservatives
dilution of the HRA has, for several years, been the driving force
behind Tory attacks on the Act. If one thing is certain this issue is
explosive and has the potential to bring the coalition down.
So is the HRA safe for the next ve years? No. To assume that
would surely be irresponsible. After all, governments whatever
their shade should never be the trusted custodians of hard won
rights. And despite the new language of the Queen's Speech,now is certainly not the time to be complacent. We have been
here before in the not too distant past. Cast your mind back
to the last new dawn: an ambitious and human rights friendly
Government...
We will establish a Commission to investigate the creation of
a British Bill of Rights that incorporates and builds on all our
obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights,
ensures that these rights continue to be enshrined in British
law, and protects and extends British liberties. We will seek
to promote a better understanding of the true scope of these
obligations and liberties.
The all-too-familiar
demands for the Human
Rights Act to be ripped up
were unleashedPrime Minister David
Cameron and Deputy
Prime Minister Nick Clegg
THEPRImEmINIST
ERSOFFICE,2010
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Feature
Every SingleWomanCaroline Chandler introduces Asylum Aids
campaign highlighting the experiences of
women in the asylum system
Rani ed Sri Lanka after her husband was murdered and
she was raped by soldiers. At her asylum interview in the
UK, she was provided with a female interviewer according
to UK Border Agency (UKBA) guidelines. Her translator, however,
was a man. She found it difcult to talk frankly about what had
happened to her: Because it was a man I felt ashamed. If it was
a woman, I would have said more.
Forms of persecution occurring more frequently against
women, such as rape, domestic violence, honour crimes and
female genital mutilation may be carried out in the heart of
families and communities; such extremely sensitive issues aredifcult to discuss with strangers.
The last decade has seen a growing understanding of the
psychological consequences of crimes like rape and domestic
violence. We understand that victims may suffer from feelings
of shame or guilt and often need time to build trust before
disclosing such personal information. When reporting such
crimes to the police in the UK, women are generally given female
police ofcers as a matter of course. In courtrooms they may
be allowed to testify using screens or video-link to provide their
best evidence. There have been similar advances within the
prison system. For example, UK prison policy requires a minimum
of 60% female staff in womens prisons because women who
have been abused may feel safer in a predominantly femaleenvironment. No such policies exist for womens detention
centres.
Having been raped by rebels in Cameroon, Cecilia ed to the
UK, claimed asylum and was later detained in an immigration
removal centre. ale ofcers would come into her room
without warning and go through all of her belongings, including
her underwear. This lack of warning was very distressing, as
it brought back memories of the trauma she had previously
experienced. In prison in the UK, her experience was that
searches are carried out by a female ofcer and prisoners are
given advance warning. Cecilias verdict is telling: Rather than
going to a detention centre, its better for me to be in prison for
the rest of my life.
Rani and Cecilia both feature in Every Single Woman, a
campaign lm and report released late last year under the Charter
of Rights of Women Seeking Asylum to highlight the specicproblems experienced by women going through the asylum
system. Since June 2008 the Charter has been endorsed by
over 200 organisations, including Liberty, Amnesty International
and Oxfam. It includes 24 recommendations to the UK Border
Agency in working towards a gender-sensitive asylum system. In
short, this means understanding the special and gender specic
issues which cause some women to seek asylum and their
specic needs. It means changing the culture of disbelief which
pervades the UKBA when handling asylum claims by women.
The Every Single Woman campaign develops this idea by
focusing on the disparity in the treatment of women who are
seeking asylum compared with women settled in the UK. The
campaign states that a change of culture designed to produce
a genuinely gender sensitive asylum system is urgently neededto ensure that women seeking asylum receive a comparable
standard of treatment to women in similar situations who are
settled here already.
Since the introduction of the Charter, there have been slight
improvements in the asylum system. Limited childcare has been
provided in Cardiff, Glasgow and Leeds although interviews for
parents are not necessarily scheduled for days when childcare
is available. Soon after the Every Single Woman campaign
was launched, the UK Border Agency responded to the rst
recommendation put forward in the Charter by appointing a
Gender Champion from their senior management team. These
may only be small glimmers of change, but they are denite
steps in the right direction.
For more information, and to endorse the Charter, please visit
www.asylumaid.org.uk/charter
RANI, PHOTO BY
CHANGING IDEAS
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Director of Development Lee Rodwell
explains the why, when and how of our
move to Westminster
Libertys new home
your questions answered
Feature
Since we announced Libertys plans to move to a new
building, we have been overwhelmed by the generous
response from Liberty members. Your messages of
support have been just as inspiring as the 50,000 youve
already given towards the appeal. Thank you for such
marvellous encouragement.
any of you have asked to know more about our plans and
the reasoning behind them, so were sharing some of our answers
here, along with a couple of pictures of the building itself.
So, whats wrong with Libertys current ofce?Well, its certainly cramped and uncomfortable, has only one
meeting room and little access to fresh air or daylight. But our
plans to relocate are not so much about whats wrong with our
current building, which is plenty, but about how much more we can
do in a new building.
As a Liberty member, we hope youre proud of the powerful
campaigns you have seen us run on a wide range of issues. In anew building, we will be even more effective, with the capacity to
take on lots more volunteers, a perfect new location, and a space
we can call our own long into the future.
But why do you need to move to Westminster?As you know, a key part of our work consists of inuencing
politicians theres no doubt that being closer to Parliament
will help us to do so. And, of course, it is not just the Houses of
Parliament that we will be closer to, but also various inistries,
media ofces and studios, Scotland Yard and the new Supreme
Court.
For all of these reasons, Westminster is clearly the ideal home
for us a practical and symbolic location for the conscience of anation. What we didnt expect was being able to afford anywhere
there! However, after many months of searching, we were both
surprised and delighted to have found a building that is perfect for
Liberty and considerably cheaper than anticipated.
Why do you need to move now?The need for Liberty to relocate has been apparent for many
years, but we have been fortunate that the wider economic climate
makes moving now considerably more affordable than it has been
for many years. On the back of much campaigning success, but
with much more still to be done in uncertain economic and political
times, now is the perfect time to move.
But if I make a donation now, wont you just ask meagain in a few years time?No the last time Liberty moved ofces was 1981. This is truly a
once-in-a-generation appeal. Our planned new ofces represent a
new home that Liberty can call its own for decades to come. We
even have some outside space (with existing planning permission)
to extend into if the organisation grows in future years.
Why have you set a target of 500,000?We recognise that our target of raising half a million pounds from
Liberty members seems ambitious. The good news is that, through
the sale of Libertys current premises and the generous support oftrusts and foundations in particular, we already have around 2m
received or pledged towards the relocation project. Raising a nal
500,000 will ensure we can move into the planned new building in
the summer of 2011.
Why am I being asked to donate to the Civil LibertiesTrust?
As many of you are already aware, Libertys campaigning work
is deemed to be too political to be classed as charitable. Like
many similar organisations, our work is therefore supported by a
charitable sister organisation the Civil Liberties Trust which can
claim some of the benets of charitable status, such as Gift Aid.
The Trust supports Libertys work in numerous ways, but perhaps
the most important is to be owner and custodian of Libertys
headquarters. It is therefore the Trust that is raising money towards
the new building which Liberty will occupy.
How can I donate to the appeal?There are numerous ways to support the appeal by cheque,
postal order or CAF voucher; by credit card donation online at
www.justgiving.com/FutureOfLiberty; or by setting up a three-
year Direct Debit to the appeal using the form enclosed with this
newsletter.
If youd like more information about the move, please contact
our embership ofce on 020 7378 3663
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What isErasing Davidabout?Erasing David is a feature documentary. I wanted to nd out how
much of our personal information is oating around in government
and corporate databases. To nd out, I went on the run for a
month and set two of the worlds top private investigators the task
of tracking me down, using only publicly available data.
What inspired you to make the lm?When my daughter was a small baby, a letter arrived from the
UK government. It was an apology they had lost her and my
data on a CD (it included her name, date of birth, address and
my bank details). It really spooked me and I started noticing the
growing number of press stories about the database state. I read
some research from the London School of Economics that said
that the UK is one of the three most intrusive surveillance states
in the world. Thats when I decided it was time to make the lm. I
guess I saw it as an adventure, which I hoped would make a point.
What I didnt realise was that the experience would be profoundly
unsettling and transformative.
What did you learn from your experiment?Three things:
1. If youre going to challenge people to a contest, dont pick the
type who will never give up, no matter what.
2. There is way more data out there about all of us than most of us
imagine.
3. The politicians dont seem capable of protecting us: if wedont start to object to this on a personal level by pushing back
against organisations wanting to prole us, we could be heading
for increasingly totalitarian treatment by governments and
corporations.
The long-term effect of making the lm has been the most
profound. I routinely question exchanges of data and information
that most people dont notice. This can be a pain but it is also
really liberating. And of course now I shred. A lot.
Why did you decide to place yourself at the centre ofthe story?
I love talking head documentaries, and we could have treatedthe issues that way. But I wanted people who are really not worried
about the database state to enjoy the lm and for it to draw them
into the issues. To make that work, we needed a strong personal
story that highlights the boundary between individual and state.
I was already into the debate, I had a young family, I was cheap
to hire: what can I say, I gave myself the job Is that nepotism?
There is denitely something paradoxical in the lm. Im trying to
hide to erase myself whilst simultaneously lming myself and
then screening the results. I like the paradox though. I think it
reects what we all feel that it would be great to be recognised,
but also great not to be
What are you hoping viewers will take away fromyour lm?I mainly want people to nd the lm entertaining, but if people who
watch the lm react against just one attempt by a company, or a
government to capture or prole theirs or their familys data, Id be
a happy lmmaker. Were developing a supporting website, www.
erasingdavid.com, where people can learn more about protecting
their privacy.
10 libSummer 2010
Interview
If youd like to arrange a screening of the lm in your local area
to raise awareness of personal privacy, visit Good Screenings atwww.goodscreenings.org for hire fees and tips on running your
event.
Some big advances in privacy protection
have been promised by the new Government.
But as the feature documentaryErasing
Davidshows, theres still plenty to be
concerned about. We spoke to the lms
director and star, David Bond
Erasing David
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Membership news
libSummer 201011
If youre interested in fundraising for Liberty please contact Liberty's embership team by emailing membership@liberty-human-rights.
org.uk or calling 020 7378 7663
If youd like to contribute towards our fund to move to a new building, please visit www.justgiving.com/futureoiberty to make a donation.
You can nd out more about these rights and others at www.love.commonvalues.org.uk and read excerpts from two of the works below.
Article 12:You Have The Right To Marry AndRaise A Family
by Paul Burston
Shortly after our wedding I published a novel about a gay man
planning his own civil partnership. On the day of publication I
was interviewed by a radio presenter who put it to me that gay
marriage was an attack on the family. I asked him to dene
family and he oundered. aybe you should ask my mother?
I said. Or my step father? Or my sisters? Or my nephew and
niece? Or if you call long distance you could talk to my new
mother and father-in-law in Rio. Theyre all family, and they
didnt see our wedding as an attack on them.
Article 7:No Punishment Without Law: ifaccused of a crime, you have the rightto hear the evidence against you, in acourt of law.by Ali Smith
What can I do you for, adam? he said.
Please help me, iss Otis said.
Thats what were here for, adam, he said.
I call upon the law and I fall upon the law, iss Otis said.
Yes, but which law exactly, adam? the constable said. We
have so many, and so many new ones. The forty ve criminal
justice laws which were created, for instance, while r Blair
was Prime inister alone which, added together, by the
way, come to a total larger than all the criminal justice laws
passed by all the governments of Britain in the whole previous
century have created more than three thousand new ways to
be committing a criminal offence, which makes it very dizzying
for us, adam, as you might imagine, and wed appreciate you
taking that into account.
Yes, of course, iss Otis said. But its urgent. Theres a mob
after me. They want to hang me.The police constable went through the back to fetch a form.
In April Liberty ran a joint event with the Southbank Centre
celebrating our Common alues campaign and using new writing
to illuminate the individual rights in the Human Rights Act. Some
of the countrys top authors performed their newly commissioned
works on specic rights in the Act.
Ali Smith, Hisham atar, Kamila Shamsie, Lemn Sissay,
Jeanette Winterson, Brian Chikwava, Suheir Hammad, Bernardine Evaristo, Robin Yassin-Kassab, Paul Burston, Laura Dockrill and
campaigner Zackie Achmat brought to life rights including fair trial, the prohibition of slavery and torture and the right to marry.
Liberty supporters, staff and volunteers have raised a
fantastic 4,000 over the last few months at some gruelling
and some less-than-gruelling fundraising events.Kate Watkin and Lee Rodwell ran 26.2 miles around
the streets of London on Sunday 25 April. Both smashed
their personal fundraising targets, and just to make it extra
challenging, Lee ran the Brighton marathon on Sunday 18
April as well. In ay an intrepid team of Liberty fundraisers
took to the high seas (well, the Royal ictoria Dock
Watersports Centre) to compete in a Dragon Boat Race, and
another took to the streets for the London Legal Walk 2010,
a 10km guided tour of some of Londons legal landmarks.
Well done and a huge thank you toeveryone involved!
Paul Burston
reads his work
Writers give a voice to
the Human Rights Act
Fundraising events raiseover 4,000 for Libertysnew home
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30secondinterview
Please tell us your name and whatyou do at Liberty.y names Ed Gillett: Im Libertys
receptionist, so I deal with all of our
incoming phone calls, post and visitors. I
also help provide administrative support toeveryone else in the ofce, as part of the
Operations department, and look after our
team of admin volunteers.
Why did you want to come andwork at Liberty?I actually started off here as a volunteer
myself: Id always been hugely impressed
by Liberty spokespeople on the news,
became really interested in Liberty as a
result, and eventually decided that I wanted
to get involved.
What does your typical dayinvolve?Theres always plenty of people calling
our switchboard, so Ill usually be busy
directing callers to the relevant person, or
answering general queries about what we
do. The rest of my time is pretty varied: at
any one moment I might be xing a broken
printer, helping with a job recruitment,
organising stuff for our AG, or trying to do
all three at once!
What is the best thing about yourjob?The feeling that youve contributed to
one of the most important human rights
organisations in the UK. Seeing the results
of Libertys work, whether its victory in a
court case, a public campaign changing
peoples perceptions of a particular issue,
or even just someone whos been given
really helpful advice about human rights
law, makes me incredibly proud.
And the worst?We get a lot of calls from people who are
desperate for help, and sometimes theres
just nothing we can do. It can be pretty
heartbreaking having to explain that we
dont have the resources to offer everyone
substantive legal assistance.
What do you do when you're not atwork?Im a massive music geek, so my time is
generally spent at gigs, digging around
in record shops, listening to music, that
sort of thing! Im also part of a small
independent arts group in South London
who put on exhibitions, publish books,
loads of interesting stuff like that.
Thank you for supporting Liberty,it is our members that make all of our work possible. Theres more you
can do to help us:
Tell your friends! It sounds simple, but spreading the word about our
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ake a donation by visiting our website, lling in the form on the left
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ght the erosion of civil liberties in the UK.