Liberty goes on-line

HUMAN RIGHTS: site to cut number of direct enquiries

The UK's first Web site containing legal information and advice on civil liberties is to be launched this month by human rights organisation Liberty.

Funded by the National Lottery Community Fund, the site - Your Rights Online - is set for launch on 16 May and features regularly updated free information compiled by Liberty's legal team and an external panel of solicitors and barristers.

The site will contain detailed sections on freedom of expression, peaceful protest, defendants, people with mental disorders, prisoners, travellers and victims of crime.

It will feature a question and answer section on areas such as policing and privacy, and sections on immigration and property rights will be added in the near future.

Project manager Carolyn Baker said: 'We launched the site as a response to the interest shown by the public in human rights and in particular what their rights are.

We have created a comprehensive service that covers most of the Human Rights Act, but also other legislation.'

Ms Baker said she hoped the site would increase Liberty's exposure, but also help handle the huge number of enquiries received each year by offering another outlet.

Liberty's public legal advice service currently responds to around 3,500 written queries and 1,600 telephone calls a year.

Among the external lawyers to have contributed to the site are solicitors John Skinner of south London-based Dundons, Simon Creighton from north London firm Bhatt Murphy, mental health specialist Camilla Parker and Jo Cooper, a solicitor-advocate based in London's Alverstone Chambers.

Andrew Towler

LINKS: www.yourrights.org.uk