Prevent strategy "creates serious risk of human rights violations": report

The Government’s Prevent strategy in health and education “creates a serious risk of human rights violations and is also counterproductive”, it has been claimed.

In a report, Eroding Trust: The UK’s Prevent Counter-Extremism Strategy in Health and Education, the Open Society Justice Initiative called for the repeal of 2015 legislation that imposes a legal obligation on education and healthcare professionals to report individuals believed to be at risk of being drawn into terrorism.

The Open Society Justice Initiative report argued that application of the duty in schools, colleges and in healthcare institutions was damaging trust: “between teachers and students; between doctors and patients; and between the police and members of the UK’s Muslim community, whose support is an essential element of counter-terrorism efforts”.

The report – which was based on 87 interviews and includes 17 case studies from across England and Scotland – also suggested that:

  • The statutory Prevent duty on education and healthcare professionals was leading to a tendency to over-refer individuals seen as being at risk of being drawn into terrorism.
  • The Prevent strategy’s definition of “extremism” as a target was “too broad and too vague” and created a risk of violating the right to freedom of expression among other rights.
  • Prevent’s targeting of non-violent extremism and its “indicators” of risk of being drawn into terrorism lacked a scientific basis.
  • Prevent’s requirement to report individuals to the police-led Channel programme created “a risk of discrimination, particularly against Muslims, given the prevailing climate of anti-Muslim sentiment, and the extent to which the duty grants frontline professionals broad discretion to act on their conscious or unconscious biases”.
  • The Prevent duty created a risk that healthcare professionals would breach their duty of confidentiality towards patients.

Amrit Singh, author of the report, said: “To effectively counter the real threat of terrorism, the Government must let health and education professionals get on with their jobs and use their common sense and professional judgement to intervene where genuinely warranted.

“Conscripting these professionals to counter a vaguely defined concept of ‘extremism’ under a statutory duty is only making things worse by violating human rights, generating fear and distrust, and alienating Muslim communities while undermining their access to health and education. The Government and health and education bodies should heed the voices in this report and abandon the flawed aspects of the Prevent strategy.”  

The report’s recommendations included the establishment of an independent public inquiry into the Prevent strategy, and the creation of a formal and independent complaints mechanism.

The Open Society Justice Initiative also recommended that the relevant professional bodies in education and health conduct appropriate assessments of the impact of Prevent strategy in their field, including on children’s interests, academic freedom, and medical confidentiality.