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1. Countryside Alliance review of the year
2. Update on the Human Rights challenge to the Hunting Act
3. The case for welfare
1. Countryside Alliance review of the year
As 2009 draws to a close it brings an opportunity to look back on all that the Countryside Alliance has achieved this year. The year-end leaves us in robust health with more members than ever before and a strong sense of purpose across a range of vital rural issues.
We continue to fight for field sports and the campaign for repeal has continued to gather momentum. Shadow Defra Secretary Nick Herbert provided one of the highlights of the year when he wrote in the Sunday Telegraph: "Some argue that the Hunting Act is so ineffective that it might as well be left on the Statute Book. But this is bad law, and bad laws should be repealed... David Cameron has said that, if we are elected, we will give Parliament the opportunity to repeal the Hunting Act on a free vote, with a government bill in government time." So if certain things fall into place and we maintain our course, 2010 could be a momentous year for hunting.
Elsewhere National Shooting Week, National Newcomers’ Week for hunting, Game-to-Eat and our support of Casting for Recovery UK & Ireland have seen hunting, shooting and fishing’s profiles grow, and have attracted a wider-than-ever following. The Countryside Alliance Foundation, our charitable sister organisation, has pioneered Fishing for Schools and Falconry for Schools which introduce children with a variety of special education needs to rural activities, also with excellent results. The support of actor and keen angler Robson Green has given Fishing for Schools a huge boost and co-ordinator Charles Jardine is looking forward to a bumper year of courses in 2010. In addition, our Countryside Investigators free educational resource is already in 10% of schools which gives us much to build on in 2010. We have always advocated promotion of our way of life as the best form of defence, and the success of these initiatives show what you can do when you accentuate the positive.
The Countryside Alliance Awards continue to get bigger every year. Now in their fifth year, the 'Rural Oscars' have struck a chord across the perceived urban/ rural divide because they focus on people, produce and a determination to protect the countryside we all value. The Awards’ ethos makes them a key part of our own Rural Manifesto, which is a blueprint for the next Government on rural issues. The Manifesto has been another success of 2009, promoting achievable solutions to the many problems facing rural life. The Manifesto promotes outdoor education and local food procurement for public bodies, it demands better public services for the countryside and urgent affordable housing, as mentioned in Parliament recently and in an Early Day Motion which nearly one in ten MPs has signed. You will hear more about the Manifesto in the coming months as we approach a General Election. You can download a copy of it here and sign up to its aims here.
May I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year. Please support your local hunt on Boxing Day (click here for a list of meets which will be updated regularly) on what could be the final Boxing Day before repeal.
We have much to do in 2010 and will need all your support if we are to continue fighting for the countryside effectively on the national stage.
Simon Hart
Chief Executive
2. Update on the Human Rights challenge to the Hunting Act
The Human Rights challenge to the Hunting Act was launched back in 2004. The case was heard in the High Court, Appeal Court, and House of Lords, who all had sympathy for our point of view, but felt unable to overrule the wishes of elected Parliamentarians, whatever the quality of the argument. Recently The European Court of Human Rights has said that, although hunting was "part of the fabric and heritage of rural communities" that Parliament was justified in legislating where it judged an activity was "morally and ethically objectionable". The court has therefore dismissed our application, not on the basis which the Government used to justify the Hunting Act; an unproven benefit to animal welfare, but because it considers that Parliament is justified in acting on subjective judgments about the morality of an activity. This was not the argument that Ministers or supporters of the Act used to promote it at the time. Thankfully the importance of the Human Rights case has diminished as parliamentarians have come to accept that the 'moral judgment' that led to the Act was prejudiced and that laws created on that basis are bound to be unworkable and fail. The European Court of Human Rights concludes that as the Hunting Act was passed by the UK Parliament, then it should be for the UK Parliament to decide on its future. We think that once it has this opportunity the Act it will almost certainly be repealed.
3. The case for welfare
The Veterinary Association for Wildlife Management (VAWM) has produced an aide memoire card giving the welfare reasons for repeal of the Hunting Act. Copies are free and can be obtained by calling either 07867 740154 or 07768 041538. See VAWM's website at http://www.vet-wildlifemanagement.org.uk |
Countryside Alliance Chief Executive Simon Hart looks back on a busy and productive year for the organisation and its campaigns: As 2009 draws to a close it brings an opportunity to look back on all that the Countryside Alliance has achieved this year. The year-end leaves us in robust health with more members than ever before and a strong sense of purpose across a range of vital rural issues.
“The Human Rights challenge to the Hunting Act was launched back in 2004. The case was heard in the High Court, Appeal Court, and House of Lords, who all had sympathy for our point of view, but felt unable to overrule the wishes of elected Parliamentarians, whatever the quality of the argument. Recently The European Court of Human Rights has said that
