Liberty, formerly, and still formally, called the National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL),Liberty – Constitution and Rules | As amended by the AGM 19 May 2007 is an advocacy group and membership organisation based in the United Kingdom, which challenges unjust laws, protects civil liberties and promotes human rights. It does this through the courts, in Parliament and in the wider community. Liberty also aims to engender a "rights culture" within British society. The NCCL was founded in 1934 by Ronald Kidd and Sylvia Crowther-Smith (later Scaffardi),Liberty | Entry in the Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organisations motivated by their humanist convictions.
During the 1950s, the 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 inmates, the abolition of the Mental Deficiency Act 1913, and the establishment of new Mental Health Review Tribunals which culminated in the Mental Health Act 1959.
Since 2016, Liberty's work has been dominated by a High Court challenge to the Investigatory Powers Act, as well as campaigning against the so-called 'hostile environment' policies which allow indefinite immigration detention in the UK.
In autumn 2019, the organisation set up Liberty Investigates, an editorially independent journalism unit. Its initial focus was on how the coronavirus pandemic affects Human Rights in the UK.
History
Foundation and early years
The National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL) was founded in 1934, following the events at the end of the National Hunger March 1932 and in advance of the second hunger march. The inaugural meeting took place in the church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London on 22 February, and a letter published in The Times and The Guardian newspapers announced the formation of the group, citing "the general and alarming tendency to encroachment on the liberty of the citizen" as the reason for its establishment. The first 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.Dyson, Brian (1994): Liberty in Britain 1934–1994: a diamond jubilee history of the National Council for Civil Liberties. Civil Liberties Trust.
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. Other prominent early themes included campaigning against fascists, against film censorship and support for striking miners in Nottinghamshire.Administrative/Biographical History, Liberty | Liberty Archive on the Archives hub. Retrieved 16 January 2013. .
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". Harold Nicolson and 38 others resigned from the NCCL over the issue.Richard Thurlow, "Fascism in Britain", I.B. Tauris, 1998, p. 199.
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. 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). 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".Column by David Aaronovitch for The Times.
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. She later shared a platform with Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to jointly defend the HRA.
In January 2016 it emerged that Chakrabarti was standing down as Liberty's director. Martha Spurrier took up the post at the end of May.
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. 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.
In January 2024, Akiko Hart took over the role of director of Liberty.
Campaigns
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.
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.
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.Liberty Legal Work | on www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk
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 Deficiency Act 1913 and the establishment of new Mental Health Review Tribunals and the Mental Health Act 1959.Swain, J. & French, S. (1999): Therapy and Learning Difficulties: Advocacy, Participation and Partnership. Oxford: Butterworth–Heinemann.
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 the Romani community, children, prisoners and servicemen who had changed their decision about joining the forces. This broader range of campaigning resulted in a large rise in membership and a higher profile in the media. 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.Moores, Chris, Civil Liberties and Human Rights in Twentieth-Century Britain CUP (2017)
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.
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.
Right to public protest
NCCL intervened on behalf of groups refused permission to protest and monitoring the policing of demonstrations such as those against the Vietnam War.
Support for reluctant servicemen
NCCL also campaigned to raise awareness of the difficulty faced by 'reluctant servicemen' – men in the armed forces who had often signed up as teenagers then realised they'd made a mistake but were prevented from discharging themselves for anything up to 16 years.
Northern Ireland
In 1972 NCCL campaigned for civil rights in Northern Ireland.
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.
1975–1989 Near the end of 1974, Patricia Hewitt, later a Labour cabinet minister, was appointed as general secretary. A number of other future high-profile Labour politicians worked at the organisation at this time, such as Harriet Harman, who worked as the legal officer 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).
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. 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. Prominent pro-paedophile activist Tom O'Carroll also sat on the NCCL's sub-committee for gay rights. 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."
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.
Miners' strike
During the miners' strike, NCCL campaigned on behalf of miners stopped from picketing outside their home regions.
MI5 surveillance
The European Court of Human Rights ruled that MI5 surveillance of Harriet Harman and Patricia Hewitt during the pair's tenure at Liberty breached the European Convention on Human Rights.
1990–2004
Detention without charge
During the Gulf War, Liberty successfully campaigned for the release of more than 100 Iraqi nationals – some of whom were openly opposed to Saddam Hussein – detained without charge in Britain on the grounds that they posed a risk to national security.
Miscarriage of justice