Concern that new Youth Diversion Orders announced by the Home Secretary will continue to target children 

The Education sector is the largest source of Prevent referrals and children younger than ten continue to be targeted 

“Rather than investing in a broken system, Government should be protecting our human rights and investing in educating young people about the harms of misogyny and dangerous ideologies” - Ilyas Nagdee 

The Home Secretary has today announced proposed new measures for children ‘suspected of being drawn into terrorist activity’ telling MPs there was “confusion” in the system and it was “not always clear to practitioners what kinds of cases should be dealt with under Prevent”. These include new legal orders which could restrict internet access and enforce compliance with the Prevent programme.  

Additionally, she has announced a new independent commissioner to review the effectiveness of the Prevent programme. A programme which Amnesty has already demonstrated is ill-efficient in its report ‘This is the Thought Police’, which outlined how Prevent violates fundamental rights leading to damaging and discriminatory consequences for our society. 

With claims that younger people are being drawn into terrorism, Amnesty International UK is demonstrating how the Prevent duty needs to be scrapped and the harms it has caused addressed. 

 The latest figures show that between April 2023 and March 2024, 6,922 people were referred to Prevent. Of those referred, 512 were recommended for Channel intervention - the Government’s deradicalisation programme. 

40% of those referred were 11 –15 years old, with 5% under ten years of age. 

In August this year, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination condemned the Prevent duty for targeting Muslim communities and called for it to be suspended while a review is carried out. The Committee expressed concern about the “chilling effect it has on children’s freedom to express themselves and that half of the children reported under the Prevent duty are Muslim or of Asian descent.” 

Responding to the announcement on ‘teenage radicalisation’, Ilyas Nagdee, Programme Director for Racial Justice at Amnesty International UK, said:  

“It is truly surprising this Government has chosen to walk the same broken path as its predecessors. There is a growing consensus that the Government’s “Prevent” duty prevents trust – this has been said for years to consecutive UK Governments by communities, Amnesty and United Nations Committees.  

“Just two weeks ago, statistics revealed that the Education sector is the largest source of referrals and children younger than ten continue to be referred. Prevent stands in the way of young people building trusting relationships with the very people they should be able to go to for care and guidance.  

“The response to this should be to provide care and guidance to young people at a key time in their lives – when they most require access to support. Despite these stark facts the Government appears to be doubling down on the criminalisation of innocent children with the announcement of new ‘Youth Diversion Orders’. 

“The Prevent duty demands that our caretakers act like spies - our teachers, doctors, nurses and social workers; the people we should trust the most - are pressured to make rash judgements about the people they are meant to care for. 

“Rather than investing in a broken system, the Government should be protecting our human rights and investing in educating young people about the harms of misogyny and dangerous ideologies. For the last 20 years, Prevent has repeatedly been found to be in breach of some of the most basic human rights protections. 

“The Prevent duty is not compliant with international human rights law and must be abolished once and for all.” 

Scrap the Prevent duty and address the harms it has caused 

Trade Unions, the UN, civil society groups, teachers and academics have all criticised the Prevent duty for discriminating against Muslims, for invading people’s privacy, and for having a negative effect on our freedom of expression. Amnesty reiterates that the Prevent strategy does not comply with international human rights law and should be abolished. 

The Prevent duty targets Muslim communities, making so many people in our communities feel fear and unable to freely and safely be themselves. 109 out of 153 Muslim people that Amnesty spoke to said they have changed their behaviour out of fear of being reported.* 

The Government’s Prevent duty, which was forced into schools, means that nearly one in three people reported to the police under the Prevent duty are children under 15. These are children at a pivotal stage of their lives when they should be allowed to express themselves freely and given the space to make mistakes and get guidance and care.  

The Prevent duty pressures teachers to make rash judgements about who seems at risk of being drawn into terrorism. Teachers and social workers are making personal judgements based on their gut feelings and biases and this means nearly half of the children reported to the police under the Prevent duty are Muslim or of Asian descent. 

Despite the Home Office claiming that the Prevent duty is not a criminal process, the information of people reported to the Prevent duty – even if there is no further action – are held on a Police Case Management database for a minimum of six years. For so many of the children reported, that could be their whole time at school. 

The Prevent duty is forced on so many people in our communities – over five million people who we’ve entrusted with our care, like nurses, teachers, social workers, have been forced to do this training. 

*all statistics from Amnesty’s report