Rights & Security International

Rights & Security International (RSI) works internationally to end human rights abuses committed in the name of national security. It litigates and campaigns for stronger legal safeguards and independent oversight of national security policy, seeking to build inclusive movements and connect communities and decision-makers. It has been working to address the negative impacts of the UK’s Prevent strategy since 2015.

In 2020, the Foundation awarded RSI a grant to carry out fresh research and advocacy in anticipation of the independent review of the Prevent strategy. In 2022, RSI was awarded a second grant through our Racial Justice fund to challenge the discriminatory and harmful effects of Prevent through legal action.

Prevent is a key pillar of the UK’s counterterrorism strategy and aims to tackle non-violent extremism. It is a controversial policy, with negative impacts well documented by RSI and others. Since 2015, some public authorities (such as schools, health, and social services) have a legal duty to report any signs of “extremism” in patients or students in their charge. This has led to a massive increase in Prevent referrals, many of them for children. A large majority of these are erroneous and later dropped. Boys and young men from Muslim communities are disproportionately affected, with the highest rates of cases discontinued.

RSI seeks to address the discriminatory and harmful impacts of Prevent. Our work – supported by the Baring Foundation and other funders – has included:

• Advocating for an independent review of the Prevent strategy which the Government agreed to establish in 2019. This was followed by a successful legal challenge to the appointment of the Independent Reviewer initially recruited to the role.
• Supporting an alternative ‘people’s review’ of Prevent following the subsequent appointment of a second Independent Reviewer, also considered by RSI and others in civil society to be insufficiently independent.
• Continuing to monitor the progress of – and conduct of – the ongoing Independent Review of Prevent.
• Documenting the harmful and discriminatory impacts of Prevent. For example, in 2022 we published the report, Prevent-ing Dissent, which found that Prevent is having a chilling effect on freedom of expression and peaceful protest in the UK, particularly for Muslims but also for others such as environmental groups and the anti-racism movement.

With the latest grant from the Baring Foundation, RSI will explore different avenues for challenging Prevent in the courts. One focus of challenge is likely to be the harmful impact of the use of data collected, stored and shared under Prevent. Once a person is referred, their data can be shared with police and a number of other authorities and retained for long periods of time. Our initial research into data handling under Prevent found that it violates human rights law under the ECHR. The Baring Foundation grant will enable us to undertake further pre-litigation research and preparation for a case.

Find out more about RSI’s work.

(Photo by Aneta Lusina)