UK urged to address discrimination concerns over Prevent

An expert from the United Nations has stressed that authorities in the UK must urgently address concerns about discrimination and the ‘de-facto criminalisation of children’ in the Prevent counter extremism programme.

Professor Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in counter terrorism, warned that a report by campaigners, which called for the Prevent programme to be withdrawn, raised questions about its ‘pre-criminal’ interventions over radicalisation concerns.

She said: “The data provided underscores the critical need to directly attend to deep concerns about discrimination, stigma, de-facto criminalisation of individuals, particularly children, privacy violations, intrusion on the freedom to practice one’s religious beliefs, and negative impact on the right to education, health, and participation in public affairs for targeted individuals, primarily Muslims.

“It is my sincere hope that this report will enable a broader and necessary conversation to take place about the operation of the current Prevent strategy in the UK.”

Her comments were published in a report produced by the People’s Review of Prevent, which was mounted by campaign groups that withdrew from a separate review commissioned by the government. The report labelled the Prevent programme ‘ineffective, disproportionate and discriminatory’ and called for it to be stopped. It accused Prevent of undermining ‘genuine safeguarding’, by placing national security above the best interests of children and the right to family life.

The paper also accused Prevent of being Islamophobic, undermining free expression and targeting legal actions and behaviours without adequate justification.