The People’s Review of Prevent is an alternative review to the Government Shawcross Review.
This review provides a voice to the people most impacted by the Prevent Duty.
Prevent is described as ‘safeguarding’ children from harms. However, under Prevent, safeguarding is focused on protecting the wider public from children believed to be ‘risky’, rather than protecting children from harms.
Throughout our report we present case studies that show how real these harms can be and the distress they cause to children and their families and carers.
This case log details what came to be known as ‘The Quran Case’, when an 8-year-old Muslim boy was asked by counter-terrorism officers under Prevent to
A four-year-old boy’s referral to Prevent after talking about Fortnite, a popular video game, at his after-school club has prompted fresh calls to abolish the controversial scheme. The boy, who is from the West Midlands and is a Muslim, was referred to Prevent in September 2019 after saying that his father had “guns and bombs in his shed”. However, transcripts of a conversation with a club worker reveal that the reference to weaponry was linked to Fortnite. The child’s mother believes that if her boy were white and not a Muslim he wouldn’t have been considered at risk of radicalisation. In the first (anonymous) interview from a parent of an under-six referred to Prevent, she described her upset at police turning up at the family home at 10.30pm. “It could have gone really wrong. I worry armed police could have come to my house and, you know, arrested the parents,
An aspiring doctor who was referred to Prevent over “misinformed” claims that he was “obsessed” with killing David Cameron must have his personal data deleted by the Metropolitan Police, the High Court has ruled. The boy – known only as II – was 11 when a tutor raised concerns in December 2015 that he allegedly wanted to kill the then prime minister, had spoken about “America being evil” and said he “liked Game Of Thrones because of the beheadings”. Officers with the Prevent anti-radicalisation programme spoke to his mother, NK, who said her son had recently written a letter he wanted to send to Mr Cameron which “spoke of peace and unity throughout the world”. Read more at Asian Image Related… The pressure-cooker effect: The harm of self-censorship on Palestine (Expert View, 2023) How Prevent will target a child, but ignore the cause (Expert View, 2023) The People’s Review of
5Pillars has been told that two schools in the UK have been trying to put Muslim pupils under Prevent training, in order to effectively spy on each other. Prevent Watch, which monitors the government’s controversial counter-extremism programme, told 5Pillars that the schools, one in Birmingham and one in Slough, have been training, or attempting to train, their pupils in the Prevent strategy. All schools are required to deliver the Prevent duty and “have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism.” However, it has been assumed until now that teachers are responsible for delivering Prevent and this is the first time that we have heard of pupils themselves being trained to deliver the strategy. 5Pillars spoke to a 17 year old pupil at Joseph Chamberlain Sixth Form College in Birmingham, which has an overwhelming majority Muslim intake. The student told us that around a month ago his whole year group had
In a shocking free speech violation, students have had their university essays investigated by counter-terrorism police and faced questioning by staff under Prevent. Campaigners and experts warn that free speech is being stifled on campus and trust destroyed because of the “overzealous” Prevent programme, with students and lecturers becoming “suspects and informants”. Freedom of Information requests reveal that academic materials have been flagged in response to the government’s anti-radicalisation strategy – but it is understood that no action has been taken against students. Read more at The Independent Related… What we can expect from Prevent in the new academic year (Expert View, 2023) Higher Education, Prevent and Academic Freedom in the UK (Book Chapter, 2023) The People’s Review of Prevent (Report, 2023)
This is a statement by Netpol about how a 14-year-old Derbyshire boy was labelled a ‘domestic extremist’, because he said in class that he is an
This is the case of QS, a six-year-old referred to Prevent for a comment he first heard on the ‘Horrible Histories’ TV series.
This is the case record of a nine-year-old boy, who after being interrogated under Prevent by an Optician felt like he did not belong in the
A 20-year-old nursery nurse was subject to Prevent home visits after being stopped under Schedule 7when traveling to provide humanitarian aid abroad.
SJ is a 19-year-old college student who was reported to Prevent by his College after he changed the way he dressed and voiced valid and legal
