Can you help us rally the people of Northern Ireland to demand libel reform?
- Written by Robert Sharp
- April 29, 2014
- Category: Northern Ireland
On Wednesday 7th May the Libel Reform Campaign will bring together writers, journalists, scientists, academics, human rights advocates and civil society organisations to form a coalition to reform the law of libel in Northern Ireland.
There is a real concern that the current law of libel in Northern Ireland is chilling open discussion about academic and scientific research. We need this coalition to make the case for reform of these archaic laws to the Northern Ireland Law Commission consultation on libel reform, which is expected to launch soon.
The failure to extend the Defamation Act 2013 to Northern Ireland has created a loophole in the law that could undermine everything we have fought so hard for. You can read the campaign's criticisms of the law and the process that led to the new Defamation Act not being applied to Northern Ireland here and here.
We would appreciate your attendance at this event to help bring together the coalition. Jo Glanville from English PEN, Síle Lane from Sense About Science will be joined by others campaigning for libel reform in Northern Ireland.
The event will be hosted in The Lab at the Belfast MAC (10 Exchange Street West, Belfast BT1 2NJ) from 10am - 12.30pm on 7th May. Refreshments will be provided.
Please RSVP here.