Liberty believes that all people have the right to be treated equally and fairly, with dignity and respect.

A human rights vision of equality recognises that protecting and promoting every individual's rights and freedoms is vital to ensuring that every person has the opportunity to realise their potential and to participate in a democratic society.

Article 14 of the Human Rights Act prohibits discrimination in the exercise of a person’s human rights on grounds including sex, race, colour, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, association with a national minority, property, birth or other status.

The Equality Act

Liberty believes that the harmonisation of discrimination law into a single Equality Act will help to underline the universality of the non-discrimination principle. 

Read an article about the Act by Liberty's Director in The Times newspaper, March 2010 (PDF)

Liberty and Equality

Liberty has a long history of work promoting equal rights. We lobbied for the introduction of the Race Relations Act, which came into force in 1965, and have campaigned for women’s rights, gay and lesbian rights and for reform of the mental health system.


Sarika Singh

More recently Liberty has represented clients in discrimination cases, including in the case of a Sikh schoolgirl excluded from her school for wearing the kara (a plain single bangle widely accepted as a central tenet of the Sikh race and religion). Read more about this case.


Nadia Eweida

Liberty also represented Nadia Eweida, who was forced to take unpaid leave when her employer, British Airways, would not allow her to wear a visible Christian cross because it was in breach of the uniform policy. After Liberty’s intervention BA amended its policy to appropriately respect freedom of religion. Find out more about this case in this press release or watch this short news video.


Young People's Rights

Young people’s rights have been a key campaigning priority for Liberty over recent years, including calling for a ban on the ‘youth deterrent’ Mosquito device. Find out more about our work on Young People’s Rights.