women's unruly peace cam(pain) - continues in the face of adversity

Peace women defeat Ministry of Defence in freedom to protest case

A Ministry of Defence (MoD) byelaw banning camping outside the Atomic Weapons Establishment Aldermaston was quashed by the court of appeal today. The case, heard on 26th November 2008, was an appeal in the Judicial Review of the Secretary of State for Defence's decision to introduce byelaws which would have criminalised camping as a form of peaceful protest.

Outside court this morning

The case brought by Aldermaston Women's Peace Camp(aign) hinged on whether the government’s ban on camping violated their rights to freedom of expression and assembly guaranteed by Articles 10 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

Aldermaston Women's Peace Camp(aign) have been camping outside the Atomic Weapons Establishment every month for the last 24 years, in opposition to the manufacture of UK's nuclear weapons. Following the original hearing on 1st February 2008, the court quashed a byelaw outlawing the attaching of banners to the perimeter fence. The MoD chose not to appeal. Today's judgement reverses the original ruling that the ban on camping was justified.

In a unanimous verdict, the Court of Appeal today rejected the Secretary of State for Defence's arguments saying, “Rights worth having are unruly things”. The byelaw prohibiting camping was quashed and the women's peace camp is no longer criminalised. This ruling has an impact beyond AWPC and the Aldermaston nuclear weapons factory. It strengthens the right to protest and legitimises camping as a form of protest.

Speaking outside the court after today's judgement, a representative from the Aldermaston Women's Peace Camp said “We welcome today's outcome, which is not only a victory for the women's peace camp but an important judgement on the right to protest. Aldermaston Women's Peace Camp will continue to hold our lawful camp to protest against the government's unlawful nuclear weapons. As the judges said, 'rights worth having are unruly things'".

glaring geezeress

Comments

Hide the following 6 comments

Are men welcome?

05.02.2009 22:50

Just wondering if men can come to the protest?

Ted

men welcome

05.02.2009 22:57

No - its for women start a man's thingy ma jig.
Post here and men-people may respond.

imin

Sexisim

06.02.2009 10:24

by saying that men are not allowed isn`t being very inclusive is it?After all if any campagins stated that they were men only,rightly so,it would be branded as sexist. C`mon,in my opinion this is a form of facisim!

Winston Smith

re: Sexism

06.02.2009 11:25

(from a male anon, if it matters)

You are making the mistake to think that women and men have equal power in society, and thus sexism is just as bad both ways. Society is still heavily biased against women (though it is getting slowly better), so women-only spaces are just a way of speeding up the process of leveling the playing field.

anon

Sexisim is sexisim

06.02.2009 17:22

Anon, surely sexisim is sexisim no matter what. If we`re striving for an equal society shouldn`t we promote equality. In my opinion political correctness has a danger of becoming political dictatorship. If I were to promote an event for male,white,hetrosexual ect,I sure you get my point.

Winston Smith

More camps needed

06.02.2009 19:17

The women’s peace camp is there one weekend a month - if you would like to contribute to the fight against nuclear weapons, why not set up another camp on a different weekend? And that would be a truly marvellous thing, as the more people that bear witness to the monstrosity that is AWE Aldermaston, the better. After all, as the above press release makes clear, this victory strengthens the right to protest and legitimises camping as a form of protest not just for the AWPC women but for everybody . The best that could come out of the MOD's failed attempt at banning freedom of expression would be for lots of other groups to follow the women’s lead and set up their own camp.

Giulia