Fionnuala Ni Aolain, the UN Special Rapporteur on the protection of human rights while countering terrorism, has severely criticized the UK’s so-called counter-terrorism strategy. In her view, the Prevent strategy targets ethnic or religious minorities in particular, and has a negative and discriminatory effect on Muslim communities. Its implementation is also “incompatible” with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Since its official legislation in 2011, the strategy has been criticized by rights organizations as a threat to fundamental freedoms and the foundations of the judicial system.
The British government has been unable to provide any evidence that Prevent prevents terrorist acts. As a result, many NGOs have called for the strategy to be withdrawn on the grounds that it discriminates against Muslims.
“We know of at least 13 people who have committed terrorist attacks and who were known to Prevent before their attacks. Prevent didn’t stop them,” said Layla Aitlhadj, Director of Prevent Watch, an organization that campaigns in support of victims of the strategy.
“Targeting and traumatizing innocent people“
Under the Prevent strategy, schools, colleges, universities and health services are required to monitor students, patients and clients for signs of potential radicalization in children as young as four.
Thousands of such reports are made every year, the majority coming from the education sector. Among the victims was the case of a 12-year-old child reported by his school to the anti-terrorist brigade for expressing sympathy with the Palestinian people.
Prevent claims to operate preventively long before any criminal intent, planning or preparation takes place. This means that the individuals targeted by Prevent often never had any intention of committing a crime.
The underlying logic is that “you can arrest a child at the age of four or five, for expressing certain ideas or beliefs, because in 10 or 20 years, he could become a terrorist, which is an extraordinary claim,” said Aitlhadj.
Unlike anti-terrorism legislation, there is no independent observer with a statutory obligation to report on any extension of the prevention strategy or any problems relating to its implementation.
Recently, the British government came under fire after appointing William Shawcross, known for his anti-Muslim rhetoric, to head an independent Prevent inquiry.
In the most extensive study ever carried out on Prevent, the two experts Aitlhadj and John Holmwood concluded that the strategy does not prevent terrorism, but wrongly targets and traumatizes hundreds of innocent people, including many children.
Source : https://www.trtworld.com/europe/uk-s-anti-terrorism-strategy-has-negative-effect-on-muslim-communities-58315
