High Court Rules Parts of Police Act Breaches Human Rights Law

📣GYPSYS AND TRAVELLERS MAKE CHANGE IN HIGH COURT! LEEDS GATE MEMBERS VOICES PART OF EVIDENCE SUBMITTED TO COURT CASE BROUGHT BY WENDY SMITH, A ROMANI GYPSY WOMAN📣

Yesterday the High Court has declared parts of Police Act 2022 do not comply with Human Rights Laws in a landmark ruling! The case was brought by Wendy Smith, a Romani Gypsy woman who has shown extreme bravery and courage in taking this case forward.

The Police Act 2022 increased the power to ban Gypsies and Travellers from an area from 3 to 12 months. The High Court Judge recognised that without enough sites and places to stop, this unfairly discriminates against Gypsy and Traveller people and the right to live a nomadic life. Especially when taking away peoples vehicles that are their homes.

We submitted evidence to Friends, Families and Travellers as part of the court case which came from our Narrow Margins research project with Birmingham City University. Our member's voices and experiences from West Yorkshire were part of drawing attention to this awful law and the impact it has on Gypsies and Travellers lives.

More information about the project and the evidence we submitted with our members voices can be found here: https://narrowmargins.info/2023/12/19/judicial-review-evidence/

It's going to be a long road to further change, but we are now one major step forward in bringing attention to these issues. The Act will now go back to Parliament for review. We are so proud of our members taking part in this and using their voices to speak out against power and unjust laws.

An amazing piece of work by Friends, Families and Travellers, with Parminder Sanghera representing from Community Law Partnership and Nadia O’Mara representing from Garden Court Chambers.