About the Coalition
The UK Anti-SLAPP Coalition is an informal working group established in January 2021, co-chaired by the Foreign Policy Centre, Index on Censorship and CliDef. It comprises a number of freedom of expression, whistleblowing, anti-corruption and transparency organisations, as well as media lawyers, researchers and academics who are researching, monitoring and highlighting cases of legal intimidation and SLAPPs, as well as seeking to develop remedies for mitigation and redress.
The coalition has worked to make the case for structural and meaningful responses to SLAPPs. The coalition, which meets monthly, brings together expertise from a range of different fields to engage with policy-makers, regulators, media outlets and other organisations to ensure that the right to free expression and the ability for all to participate in society around them is not restricted by vexatious legal threats deployed by the wealthy and powerful seeking to shutdown scrutiny and democratic accountability.
The coalition does this in a number of ways:
Monitor
The coalition and its members monitor news and information shared publicly and privately, regarding threats of SLAPP actions or ongoing court proceedings. Coalition members may attend court hearings or speak to targets of SLAPP threats to gain more understanding of the actors and tactics used and to document the scale of the threat in the UK.
Respond
A goal of SLAPPs is to isolate the target and to encourage them to step back from their work. As a result, the coalition and its members work to support SLAPP targets, whether through acts of solidarity such as public campaigning and advocacy, or responses to policy-makers, regulators and international organisations such as the Council of Europe.
Advocate
The coalition and its members undertake a wide range of public and high-level advocacy campaigns to support targets of SLAPP actions and call for meaningful and structural responses to SLAPPs. This includes public statements of support, alerts submitted to monitoring mechanisms, as well as targeted work with policy-makers and industry experts to develop and support legislative responses to SLAPPs.
Who is part of the coalition?
About the Co-Chairs
The Foreign Policy Centre
The Foreign Policy Centre (FPC) is an outward-looking, non-partisan international affairs think tank based in the UK. Our mission is to provide an open and accessible space for the ideas, knowledge and experience of experts, academics and activists from across the world, so that their voices can be heard by a global audience of citizens and decision makers in order to find solutions to today’s international challenges.
The FPC examines the issue of SLAPPs as part of its Unsafe for Scrutiny project,which examines issues at the nexus of safety of journalists and anti-corruption, with a particular focus on the UK. FPC’s now Director, Susan Coughtrie, co-founded the coalition after FPC’s 2020 global survey found that the UK was the highest international source of legal threats, almost as high as those emanating from EU countries and the US combined. Since 2021, FPC and the Justice for Journalists Foundation, which supports FPC’s work in this area, have been hosting an annual UK Anti-SLAPP Conference. The third edition will be held in November 2023.
Index on Censorship
Index on Censorship is a nonprofit that campaigns for and defends free expression worldwide. Index publishes work by censored writers and artists, promote debate, and monitor threats to free speech. It believes that everyone should be free to express themselves without fear of harm or persecution – no matter what their views. Index’s aim is to raise awareness about threats to free expression and the value of free speech as the first step to tackling censorship.
Index on Censorship publishes an award-winning quarterly magazine that has featured some of the world’s best-known writers. We publish original creative writing and articles about free expression from across the globe. Each year, Index on Censorship identifies some of the greatest threats to free speech around the world and develops advocacy campaigns to push for change in legislation or public attitudes. Index uses a mixture of research, reporting, direct advocacy and media campaigning to achieve its goals. Index on Censorship directly supports groups and individuals facing censorship through the Freedom of Expression Awards Fellowship, which offers a year-long programme of tailored support to a small group of fellows selected for their outstanding work in the fields of journalism, arts, campaigning and digital advocacy.
CliDef
Global Climate Legal Defense (CliDef), founded in mid-2022, emboldens climate defenders to challenge the fossil fuel industry and other critical actors knowing that lawyers will have their backs if they need legal help. CliDef responds to the growing weaponisation of the law by governments and private actors against scientists, activists, parents and youth, journalists, lawyers, Indigenous people, and others. CliDef works to mitigate and address the legal risks climate change defenders of every stripe face by providing the essential legal resources — lawyers, advice, and funding — they need to safely carry out the work they do on behalf of us all. CliDef is a hybrid legal NGO and intermediary grantmaker, with lawyers engaging in programmatic legal work as well as raising funds and providing financial support for partner organisations around the world.
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