A United Nations report has advocated reparations for people harmed under the Prevent strategy and called for the suspension of the counter-extremism programme.
An advance copy of the report, seen by Middle East Eye, says that British counter-terrorism strategies “have created an atmosphere of suspicion towards members of Muslim communities and continue to have a negative impact on the exercise of their rights to freedom of expression, education, health and freedoms of religion and peaceful assembly.”
The report by the UN comes less than a week after the British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper commissioned a rapid review to inform a new “counter-extremism” strategy on tackling “extremist ideologies”.
She vowed to crack down on people “pushing harmful and hateful beliefs” and accused Prevent of being out of date.
During the UK’s submission to the CERD, the government said it planned to bolster Prevent training to better spot signs of radicalisation.
But Dr Layla Aitlhadj, director of Prevent Watch, told MEE: “The UN CERD’s findings reinforce what civil society organisations and UN Special Rapporteurs have been warning about for nearly two decades.”
“This is a crucial moment for the new government to acknowledge these human rights failures and take decisive action to suspend Prevent and fundamentally rethink its approach to counter-terrorism.”
Read the full story on Middle East Eye.
Related
The People’s Review of Prevent (Report, 2023)
