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.
Rights & Security International (RSI) has raised concerns about trends suggested by UK data on race and ethnicity from Prevent and Channel referrals.
Human rights groups have loudly criticised the just-released independent review of Prevent, led by William Shawcross.
If you haven’t answered the Amnesty International survey on Prevent, this is the last week to do so.
The UK government could soon make the list of human rights abusers with its “outright assault” on the rights of its own citizens and aggressive roll-back of protections such as on the right to assemble and protest. This is according to the international NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW). “The shrinking civic space is not relegated to countries far away,” said Tirana Hassan, the acting executive director of HRW. “When you come to the UK, you look at the very worrying trend we are seeing. A slew of legislation was passed last year where fundamental human rights are being challenged. The protest law is something we are deeply concerned about.” Hassan said HRW had identified a “worrying trend” by the UK government of proposing laws that violate human rights and significantly weaken protections. “When you talk about civic space and about people’s right to participate in a democratic society, the right
Discipline in the Conservative Party disintegrated further after Downing Street slapped down Suella Braverman for breaking with government policy as she called for the UK to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The home secretary said it was her personal view and acknowledged government policy was to work within the boundaries of the convention, which is interpreted by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. However, her intervention is another sign of the indiscipline within Liz Truss’s administration at the Tory party conference in Birmingham. Source: Suella Braverman angers No 10 with attack on human rights convention | News | The Times
Prime Minister Liz Truss has pulled plans to enact a new “British bill of rights” in one of her first acts as prime minister, telling the cabinet her government would reassess ways to deliver its agenda. One source described the bill as a ‘complete mess’. The legislation was introduced to parliament in June to replace the 1998 Human Rights Act, with a number of changes including an intent to entrench the primacy of British law over rulings from the European Court of Human Rights. It would also place new restrictions on how human rights can be used in claims against the government. Source: Liz Truss halts Dominic Raab’s bill of rights plan | UK bill of rights | The Guardian
Each Other documents that UK Prime Minister Liz Truss promised to expand the UK’s involvement in ‘offshoring‘ refugees and asylum seekers and pledged to increase frontline border staff by 20%. She has also voted for restricting legal aid and voted in favour of allowing national-security-sensitive evidence to be put before courts in secret sessions and out of the eye of the media. On privacy rights, Truss voted in favour of the mass surveillance of people’s communications and activities. The right to privacy is currently enshrined in the HRA, but parliament will vote on plans to replace the act with the Bill of Rights on 12 September. Records show that under the current government the prime minister has never rebelled against the party majority in a vote. Source: Liz Truss: The new Prime Minister’s human rights record | EachOther
This summary is a foundational read for those seeking case-based evidence and academic review of counter-extremism, in the UK or globally.
Into the government’s long delays and silence about its review of Prevent led by William Shawcross, Dr Layla Aitlhadj of Prevent Watch explains the People’s Review of Prevent, a report she co-authored to ensure the voices of those affected by Prevent are heard. Source: The People’s Review Of Prevent | EachOther
The many criticisms of Prevent include the lack of a peer-reviewed evidence base; the lack of an operable definition of extremism; inadequate training; a high number of ‘false-positives’; and the policy being structurally racist and Islamophobic. Critics of Prevent include Liberty, the Open Society Foundations, the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the National Union of Teachers, Andy Burnham (Mayor of Greater Manchester) and over a hundred academics. Prevent conflicts with the Human Rights Act (HRA) and the Equalities Act, writes Shazad Amin, Deputy Chair of MEND. Source: Is The Prevent Programme Compatible With Human Rights? | EachOther
