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Civil Liberties lawyers slam Government animal rights crackdownNational campaign group Animal Aid has sent an 'emergency briefing' to members of the House of Lords alerting them to the anti-democratic measures contained in the Government's Serious Organised Crime and Police (SOCP) Bill. The proposed statute, which enters its Committee Stage in the Upper House on Tuesday, 5 April, amounts to an attack upon the rights to free expression and assembly. Campaigners protesting about the use of animals in research are the intended target of the draconian measures. However the proposals can be extended so that they criminalise many forms of currently legitimate protest. Animal Aid is convinced that the measures are bound to fail in achieving their intended objective - dealing with unacceptable campaign activity. Furthermore, there are already a raft of laws in place outlawing threatening behaviour, intimidation, harassment, property damage and physical violence. The Animal Aid briefing - as well as containing suggested amendments to the SOCP - includes statements from leading civil rights lawyers expressing alarm at the Governments intentions. In his letter to the peers Animal Aid Director, Andrew Tyler, urges them to stand firm against Government attempts to crack down on traditional liberties. His letter states: "I do hope you will be persuaded that the proposed measures
within the Bill that worry us are indeed incompatible with a society
committed to the basic principles of free assembly and expression.
I should make it clear that Animal Aid, in common with the vast
majority of campaigners on behalf of animals, is committed unequivocally
to peaceful, non-intimidatory campaigning." |
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Expert legal opinion on the SOCP measures:"There is a tradition of legitimate economic protest in the
United Kingdom. People who objected to apartheid in South Africa
refused to buy goods from that country. There may be members of
this Government who boycotted South African goods. The criminalisation
of economic protest is inappropriate and disproportionate. Those
who make threats against suppliers, employees and so on will be
committing offences and it is appropriate that criminal sanction
can be used against them. Those who merely hand out leaflets should
not be made into criminals. It is insufficient to give a guarantee
that people will not be charged unless appropriate. This is simply
making a subjective decision as to what is 'good protest' and what
is 'bad protest'. There should be certainty within criminal law
to protect peaceful protest." "The right to protest peacefully is fundamental to a healthy
democracy. There are proposals within this Bill that seriously undermine
that principle. The stated targets of the new measures are animal
rights protestors determined to act outside the law. The proposals
are likely to do nothing to restrain such individuals. They do,
however, have the potential to criminalise a large number of entirely
peaceful campaigners." "The encroachment on the right to peaceful protest represented
by the proposed amendments to the Serious Organised Crime Bill is
of serious concern and casts further doubt on the sincerity of this
government's commitment to the protection of human rights. The criminalising
of minor civil wrongs and the attaching of sweeping powers of arrest
are potentially incompatible with the State's obligations under
the ECHR to ensure its citizens rights of freedom of expression
are upheld. The recent history of legislation that has been introduced
ostentibly to target a particular group shows that it is applied
to a far wider section of society and that legitmate protest is
curtailed." ......................... Notes to Editors
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