Rights Guide For Rough Sleepers
Liberty and Housing Justice are among the charities that have become so alarmed about the ways in which the human rights of rough sleepers are increasingly being threatened by the authorities that they have produced The Rights Guide for Rough Sleepers. Launched on Monday 7 December, the Guide clearly sets out the rights of homeless people so that they themselves know what their legal position is.
In the run-up to the London Olympics in 2012 (which is also Boris Johnson’s deadline for ending rough sleeping in London), the number and the severity of enforcement measures against rough sleepers has been growing. Rough sleepers may be woken up and moved along – or even stopped and searched – several times a night, and certain areas are out-of-bounds for two or more rough sleepers, to name but a few.
The booklet, Rights Guide for Rough Sleepers, explains police powers in relation to stop and search, arrest, drunkenness, obstructing the highway, and urinating in public places. The pocket-sized, water-resistant booklet points out: "You cannot be arrested just because you look weird, or are dressed in scruffy clothes. The police officer must have a reason to think you are up to no good – it has to be more than a hunch." It also sets out a series of questions based on problems raised by people attending Salvation Army and women's drop-in centres.
Sally Leigh, London coordinator at Housing Justice is concerned about the continuing practice of "wetting down" doorways or other places where people sleep, which was introduced as part of Operation Poncho in 2008 by the City of London Corporation, in partnership with the police and homelessness charity Broadway.
"In the early hours of the morning, they target 'hot spots' where groups of two or more are sleeping and wake them up and use stop and search techniques that they call a 'welfare check'," Leigh explains. "A Corporation of London water bowser sprays a jet of high pressure water on the spot several times during the night so they can't go back to sleep. We think this borders on a kind of torture."
Val Stevenson, a trustee of The Pavement, the free magazine for homeless people, another contributor to the guide, says that it is "inundated" with inquiries from readers asking: "Is this lawful?" If, for example, they ask if they can urinate in the streets, they will be advised that "this is wrong – don't do it". But if the query is about being moved along eight times in one night, the answer will be: "What they are doing to you is wrong".
Apart from Housing Justice and Liberty, the charities involved include The Pavement and Z2K.
Rights Guide for Rough Sleepers