Prevent Watch joined a protest at Parliament Square yesterday calling on government to compel Ofsted to remove the linking of autism with extremism risk in its guidance on the Prevent duty.   About 100 people gathered at the square with placards such as ‘Extremism Lies, Ofsted Revise’, and then proceeded to Number 10 Downing Street to deliver a letter.   The protest and the letter was a success and we look forward to an Ofsted revision soon.   UPDATE – 10 June 2026: After much campaigning, the Under Secretary for the Department of Education has stated that the new Ofsted Prevent guidance will not include references to children with autism. We await the change: ‘extremism’ will no longer be linked to autism.   Related…   Making autistic children an ‘extremism threat’ is the latest in a long list of harms of Prevent  

The Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law is pleased to announce the publication of the final report of the Independent Commission on Counter-Terrorism Law, Policy and Practice, chaired by the Rt Hon Sir Declan Morgan KC PC, former Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland. After three years of research and consultation with over 200 experts, practitioners, policymakers, academics, and community representatives, the Commission presents 113 recommendations to ensure the UK’s counter-terrorism framework remains effective, proportionate, and firmly rooted in the Rule of Law. The report finds that while the UK’s counter-terrorism system remains among the most capable globally, it has expanded in scope and complexity—sometimes at the expense of focus, transparency, and public confidence. Read the full report.

CRIN’s latest report shows how all stages of the UK’s counter-terrorism system threaten children’s rights in chilling ways. From pre-criminal, to pre-trial, to trial and sentencing, we need reforms and approaches that genuinely protect children. CRIN has long held concerns over the growth of counter-terrorism strategies and its impact on children’s rights in the UK. Having previously examined the effects of the Prevent strategy on children, this report follows the journey a child might make through the criminal justice system. What happens if a child is accused of counter-terrorism? What determines if a child is brought to a Youth or a Criminal court? How can children be drawn into counter-terrorist policing without committing a criminal act? Our report begins in the pre-criminal space by considering the impact of stop and search practices under counter-terrorism, the Prevent programme and the challenges of counter-terrorist law in digital spaces. It continues into pre-trial […]

The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has released the advanced edited version of their report into children’s right to be safe in education, including a paragraph relating to Prevent in schools that drew from a submission sent by Prevent Watch to the Special Rapporteur on safety in education Farida Shaheed earlier this year. You can find Prevent Watch’s submission here under CSOs. Click on our name and download our submission. The report has been submitted to the Human Rights Council pursuant to the Council resolutions 8/4 and 53/7, during the 59th session of the UNHRC held between 16 June and 11 July 2025 under Agenda Item 3: Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development. In it, the Special Rapporteur addresses the “right to be safe in education”, as part of children’s right to education. Prevent Watch made a […]

Islamophobia: the intensification of racism against Muslim communities in the UK shows that Islamophobia is growing in the UK, and highlights its structural nature across British society. Islamophobia in the UK has deep roots that manifest in many forms. The sense that Muslim people are a threat to Britain has become overt and direct. Whether it is politicians speaking from the benches in parliament, or mainstream headlines screaming about ‘Islamist extremists’ when describing peaceful protestors, Islamophobia has reached fever pitch in the UK. These narratives have cast British Muslims as ‘outsiders’ with foreign loyalties, as a menace to society. It is time that we put a rational conversation back on the agenda. This report is an opportunity to understand both the nature and breadth of Islamophobia in the UK, with the scope to build anti-racist solidarities as an outcome, to eradicate its existence. It features a chapter by Prevent Watch […]

The latest Netpol report is built on evidence from numerous witnesses, including protesters, legal observers, and arrestee support volunteers.