Liberty - Protecting civil liberties, promoting human rights

Liberty, 11 Million and the National Youth Agency have teamed up to increase respect for the UK’s young people and their right to dignity and equal treatment.

Aggressive and unpleasant, the Mosquito allows businesses to disperse young people from their property by emitting an irritating high-frequency noise only people under 25 can hear. The Mosquito creates a no-go area for children and young adults who may have done nothing wrong. Find out more about young people and human rights in the UK.

We need to ban the Mosquito because:

• It is discriminatory, targeting only the young, criminal or not. It could even violate a young person’s right to be in a public place.

• It is degrading. The technology was initially created to disperse vermin and the effect of the noise can be extremely uncomfortable.

• It’s a disproportionate and counter-productive response to anti-social behaviour. It harms community cohesion and fails to target the criminality of adults.

• It demonizes young people, creating divisions instead of mutual understanding and respect.

“What type of society uses a low-level sonic weapon on its children? Imagine the outcry if a device was introduced that caused blanket discomfort to people of one race or gender, rather than to our kids. The Mosquito has no place in a country that values its children and seeks to instil them with dignity and respect.”   -  Liberty Director Shami Chakrabarti