Britain’s counter-radicalisation programme Prevent is mired in confusion, a former government adviser who was once among its most prominent supporters has said.
Dame Sara Khan, previously a counter-extremism commissioner, also criticised the Home Office for failing to implement recommendations in multiple official reports on how to curb the emerging threat, reports PoliticsHome.
Khan was an early advocate for the programme, but in an interview with The House, she said there is “genuine confusion about what the purpose of Prevent is”.
“There’s a central question to be asked here, which is: what is the role of Prevent? Is it about tackling extremism? Is it about tackling terrorism?” she said.
The Home Office has got to be able to answer: ultimately, what is Prevent for? What is its remit and role? Because in my view it is so confused. I’m confused by it. I genuinely don’t know what the role of Prevent is anymore.”
Khan said ministers using the words ‘terrorism’ and ‘extremism’ interchangeably is “just adding to the confusion”.
“There is no legal definition of extremism,” she said. “The way that we interchange ‘extremism’ with ‘terrorism’ – I found ministers are doing that, Home Office [official] lines are doing that, where they’re using the ‘e’ word with the word ‘terrorism’ interchangeably. That’s just unacceptable. That’s just adding to the confusion.”
Read more on PoliticsHome.
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