Civil groups call for withdrawal of Prevent review

More than 200 civil society organisations, community leaders and academics have called for the UK government to withdraw a controversial review of the Prevent programme, part of its counter-terrorism strategy.

The Home Office accepted all 34 recommendations in the review from William Shawcross, a former chair of the Charity Commission, who concluded that the Prevent programme should focus more on Islamist rather than far-right terrorism.

It was boycotted by groups including Amnesty International, while critics pointed out a surge in far right activity.

Critics including Amnesty International, Liberty, Runnymede Trust, Child Rights International Network and many Muslim civil society organisations have issued a joint statement on Tuesday calling for Shawcross's review to be withdrawn.

They argue that it is ideologically shaped and increases the threat of discrimination, raises concerns about child protection and the right to free speech.

It comes a day before the security minister, Tom Tugendhat, and the Prevent director, Michael Stewart, are to be questioned by the Home Affairs Committee in an evidence session about the Prevent review.

A report by Dr Layla Aitlhadj of the organisation Prevent Watch, which has compiled hundreds of cases of people affected by the Prevent programme, is also going to be published on Tuesday. The report was co-authored by academic professor John Holmwood. The findings were overseen by an advisory panel of lawyers and academics.

The argument that Prevent should focus less on rightwing extremism and more on Islamist extremism is explicitly discriminatory.

The report says that Prevent poses a serious threat to civil liberties and urges both houses of parliament to join the calls for the Shawcross review to be withdrawn.

Aitlhadj said that at least six children are referred to Prevent every school day. Shawcross emphasizes the fact that Prevent is not safeguarding, yet he fails to take this to its logical conclusion, which is to remove it from schools. Holmwood said that Shawcross's report shows that the independent review process is now a means of influence rather than actual review, not just a result of the prediction of over 100 groups that boycotted his review. This is a subversion of the democratic process and a slide into authoritarianism. We call for the report to be withdrawn from Shawcross. The Home Office has been approached for comment.