AGM Motions 2021

MOTION 1: NON-POLICING SOLUTIONS TO PERCEIVED SOCIAL HARMS

Proposed by the Executive Committee

This AGM affirms Liberty’s role in monitoring and responding to the abuse of police power.

This AGM registers its concerns at the repressive legislation being proposed by this Government to increase the powers of the police, through the proposed Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.

This AGM agrees that the State has a responsibility to protect people from human rights violations, including interpersonal violence and other forms of harm.

However, this AGM condemns this government’s reliance on criminal justice to deal with perceived socio-economic and public health issues – including youth violence, immigration, and homelessness – and the extension in reach of the police into public services like the NHS and schools.

This AGM further notes the sweeping powers handed to the police in the context of the Coronavirus pandemic in order to enforce the pandemic response.

This AGM recognises that policing institutions, powers and practices are institutionally racist and notes with grave concern the roughly 183 people of colour who have died following police contact in England and Wales in the last 30 years, as well as the ways in which police powers, and the way those powers are implemented, such as Stop and Search, the Gangs Matrix and Prevent disproportionately affect communities of colour.

This AGM condemns any forthcoming Government proposals that would increase police powers without evidence that any proposal is safe, effective, necessary and proportionate. This AGM recognises that everybody deserves to live in safe communities, free from harm.

This AGM resolves to continue to work collaboratively with the communities and grassroots groups most affected by discriminatory, ineffective and disproportionate policing to find alternative solutions through health, education, housing and social welfare systems that prioritise strategies for community safety and address the root causes of violence while reducing the need for police interventions.

MOTION 2: PROTECTING HUMAN RIGHTS FRAMEWORKS

Proposed by the Executive Committee

This AGM notes Liberty’s ongoing campaign to protect both the Human Rights Act and judicial review – which are crucial in allowing individuals to hold the state to account and enforce their rights.

This AGM notes with deep concern the Government’s repeated attempts to water down human rights protections through measures in the Overseas Operations Bill and the passage of the Internal Markets Act, as well as proposals for the upcoming Sovereign Borders Bill. It notes that these measures form part of this Government’s wider attack on executive accountability and the rule of law. This attack includes moves to centralise power within the executive, to evade parliamentary scrutiny, and to undermine public confidence in the legal profession.

This AGM opposes the Government’s sustained attempts to weaken the laws and frameworks which allow ordinary people to stand up to power.

MOTION 3: PROTECTING EVERYONE IN THE PANDEMIC

Proposed by the Executive Committee

This AGM reaffirms that Liberty has always supported proportionate measures to save lives.

This AGM notes that national crises are always a time when rights are in danger, and that emergency rights-infringing measures should not become permanent.

This AGM strongly opposes the Coronavirus Act 2020, which was rushed through Parliament last March and renewed in October—and which severely endangers civil liberties.

Further, this AGM condemns those aspects of the Government’s approach to the pandemic which have simultaneously watered-down human rights, evaded accountability, and democracy, and left marginalised communities behind.

This AGM particularly notes the long-term threats posed to access to justice and the danger to rights posed by an over-reliance on technological solutions.

This AGM believes that any approach to dealing with the pandemic that focuses on protecting everyone’s human rights—an approach that prioritises public health rather than criminalisation and division.