Prevent Duty in Communities Archives

AI-Powered Surveillance and the Prevent strategy

“When states transfer more power to private entities, the public loses. The government becomes a body designed to service the needs and interests of profit-seeking private entities rather than its citizens. Worse, citizens lose much of their power to hold governments accountable: the government abdicates and transfers responsibility to private actors against which citizens have fewer rights.”[1] This piece examines the creeping infrastructure of AI-powered surveillance in the UK and its implications for the Prevent strategy’s pre-crime framework. Digital ID, Palantir and Oracle In January of this year, the UK government dropped its plans for a mandatory digital ID. This came after almost 3 million signatures on a parliamentary petition opposing digital IDs.[2] Several corporations were in talks of implementing the digital ID apparatus. Palantir Technologies, named after the all-seeing stone in The Lord of the Rings,[3] dropped out of the bid back in October, citing a lack of public […]

8 July 20269 July 2026 By Senior Editor

Safeguarding not Securitisation educators resource on the Prevent Duty

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Educator’s Resource on Prevent: Safeguarding not Securitisation

Prevent Watch, in collaboration with Amnesty UK and Liberty, have put together a valuable resource for educators on the Prevent Duty entitled ‘Safeguarding not Securitisation’. The 28-page booklet was put together after feedback from educators who wanted to know what their rights were in relation to Prevent, and who had become aware of the dangers of relying on ‘gut instinct’ in referrals, specifically when it comes to students. The current government and school guidance on Prevent do not take these harms into account, nor do they provide guidance on how to navigate Prevent while protecting students’ and teachers’ rights. This has left educators in the difficult situation of having to navigate Prevent as a statutory duty, and default to the Prevent Duty as a safeguarding protocol, while being increasingly aware that it violates many of the core principles of safeguarding and can infringe on several key rights. The booklet debunks […]

10 June 202612 June 2026 By Senior Editor

Piles of folders for article on Fulford Inquiry

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Southport Inquiry highlights how Prevent deprofessionalises public services

The Southport Inquiry embodies our warning that the Prevent duty has created conditions in which teachers, social workers and other frontline professionals are increasingly unable to act on their own expertise, and are required to defer to a counter-terrorism framework, writes Dr Layla Aitlhadj. In January of 2025, then Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, announced there would be a public inquiry into the Southport attack that took the lives of 3 young girls, injured many more and left their families and the nation in grief. Following the trial of the perpetrator, Axel Rudukubana, it had become public knowledge that he had been known to several agencies and referred to Prevent three times. The inquiry was described by the Home Secretary as a way to “get to the truth of what happened and what needs to change”. The next day Prime Minister Keir Starmer re-emphasised the fact that the perpetrator had been […]

20 May 202621 May 2026 By Senior Editor

Picture of a panel for story on Channel de-radicalisation programme in the UK

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Inside Channel: A former Channel panel member speaks out on de-radicalisation programme

I am a senior social worker. For several months, I sat on Channel panels, the end point of the UK government’s controversial de-radicalisation programme Prevent, within my local authority. I was uncomfortable from the outset, not only because of everything I had already heard about Prevent and Channel, but because of what I witnessed first-hand once I was inside the de-radicalisation process. What a Channel panel looks like A Channel panel is a large, formal meeting, usually involving around 10 to 15 people. This includes senior local authority staff, members of the Prevent team, Prevent engagement officers, and counter-terrorism police officers. Cases are discussed one by one. An intervention provider (IP) or engagement officer presents the individual, outlines what contact they have had with them, and explains what they see as the person’s “vulnerabilities”. The panel then decides whether the individual should remain on Channel and what kind of “support […]

5 January 20265 January 2026 By Senior Editor

Picture of man's hands with laptop and statistics for article on latest Home Office statistics on the Prevent strategy in the UK

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Revealed: Babies and Muslims lost in a flood of Home Office statistics on Prevent strategy

Prevent Watch Director Layla Aitlhadj draws out the real implications of the latest Home Office statistics in relation to the Prevent strategy – here are three important things the latest referrals numbers tell us. Each year the Home Office publishes statistics on Prevent referrals in the name of transparency. However, each year Prevent Watch has warned that these statistics are not only misleading but reinforce the criminalisation of children and increase community tensions. Shortly after the publication of the statistics for 2024/2025 the media highlighted the high numbers of referrals for right-wing “extremism”, but it is important to consider two aspects before they slip under the proverbial carpet: that infants – yes, babies! – are being referred to counter-terrorism; and that high numbers of right-wing referrals do not justify Prevent by any means. 1. Children from 0-10 years are being referred to counter-terrorism Since 2015, the Home Office has presented […]

9 December 202514 January 2026 By Senior Editor

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How is the Prevent duty in Scotland implemented and who is standing against it?

Legal guidance compels the Prevent duty in Scotland so public authorities must implement the policy. A closer look at key differences in their approach provides insights for action and directs us to the organisations resisting the Prevent duty in Scotland. By Zara W. Tahir National security, and by extension, counter terrorism, remains a reserved matter in Scotland, and therefore under Westminster control. However, one arm of the counter-terorrism strategy, the Prevent duty, requires the cooperation of public institutions north of the border, many of which are devolved. This tension between reserved and devolved powers has led to key differences in how the Prevent duty is implemented in Scotland compared to the rest of the UK, particularly England. Scottish MPs voice concerns with Prevent In 2015, the Counterterrorism and Security Act was debated for five days in the UK Parliament. MPs raised concerns about its application in Scotland; these criticisms of the […]

5 November 202531 October 2025 By Senior Editor

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Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law: Final report of the Independent Commission on Counter-Terrorism Law, Policy and Practice

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.

1 November 202516 June 2026 By Senior Editor

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Challenging the Prevent duty in securitised schools

Our recent webinar explored the Prevent duty in securitised schools, the recent aspects that further strengthen Prevent and what Prevent Watch can do to challenge referrals. By Mariam A Schools in the UK have increasingly become sites of securitisation, rather than safe places for learning and free expression. One of several changes that has facilitated this in the last decade is the introduction of Prevent – part of the UK’s counter-terrorism strategy CONTEST – as a statutory duty for educators. This presence of the Prevent duty in education has contributed to the increased security and surveillance in classrooms, which has been flagged as a concern by several human rights groups as well as the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education. These concerns are shared by Prevent Watch. In our recent webinar, we explored how Prevent has contributed to […]

30 October 202531 October 2025 By Senior Editor

CRIN report counter terrorism and children's rights

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CRIN: To Protect or Punish? Children, counter-terrorism and the criminal justice system

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 […]

15 September 20255 March 2026 By Senior Editor

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Like Prevent, pre-crime policies used in the past created the notion of ‘thought crime’

Pre-crime policies in Japan and Russia prior to World War 2 reveal uncanny similarities to the UK’s Prevent strategy and relied on the same social elements to be acceptable. By Zara W. Tahir The Prevent strategy has often been referred to as a ‘pre-crime’ strategy. Pre-crime is defined as a grey area where a crime has not yet occurred, and yet is implicitly understood to possibly occur. Its origins lie in science fiction. A study by Lucia Zedner at the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies states that pre-crime, “… has a tendency to validate developments that ought properly to be subject to intense debate. It licences changes in procedural arrangements, as well as in substantive law, that erode civil liberties and permit intrusive coercive measures to be imposed ahead of wrongdoing.” People express surprise that such a policy has arisen in the UK. But Prevent is not without precedent […]

8 September 20258 September 2025 By Senior Editor