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UK govt. counter-extremism strategy discriminatory to Muslims: Report

Friday, 18 February 2022 6:14 PM [ Last Update: Friday, 18 February 2022 6:59 PM ]

Saeed Pourreza
Press TV, London

A new report, an assessment of the British government’s widely-criticized multi-million dollar a year counter-extremism strategy known as Prevent, first introduced after the 2005 London bombings.

The People’s Review of Prevent essentially puts forward the voices of those who have been impact by Prevent as a opposed to the government review which is speaking primarily to people who are in receipt of prevent funding and essentially have a vested interest in having more Prevent.

Millions of those funds are being injected into areas with 73% Muslim populations, codenamed PPAs, Prevent Priority Areas.

The British government dismisses all criticism of its strategy and claims, “Prevent is a vital part of their counter-terrorism work which safeguards vulnerable people from being drawn into terrorism since 2012.

It hasn’t been vital and I think many people, not just community groups, not just human rights groups but even members of parliament and UN special rapporteurs have put together criticisms and concerns about the fact that this potentially causing radicalization rather than stopping it.

Bearing the brunt of it all, Britain’s Muslim community, children interrogated by Prevent officers at times without their parents knowing.

Over 50 percent of the referrals within prevent are of young people and children that includes children as young as four and children at primary school. There’s no possibility that they’re at risk of being drawn into terrorist activities.

The review cites multiple examples of the devastation caused by Prevent: the so-called Trojan Horse affair is one: false reports of an “Islamist” plot to take over schools in Birmingham in 2014, that ruined the lives and careers of more than a dozen Muslim teachers.

Despite its failures though, there are now fears that the government here might be marketing Prevent to other countries, some with questionable human rights records.

The authors of People’s Review of Prevent and other critics say the strategy is racist, fuels and legitimizes Islamophobia, and therefore must be scrapped once and for all.

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