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The UK authorities’s contentious assessment of Forestall continued to face criticism on Thursday, after it was introduced {that a} controversial House Workplace-appointed counter-extremism advisor would supply “unbiased scrutiny” of the division’s response.
House Secretary Suella Braverman advised parliament on Wednesday that she would implement all the suggestions in William Shawcross’s report, which known as for a renewed focus inside the counter-extremism technique on tackling Islamism.
Braverman additionally mentioned that her division would look to the Fee for Countering Extremism for “unbiased scrutiny and experience” in delivering Shawcross’s suggestions.
Forestall assessment lambasted by critics as Shawcross requires give attention to Islamism
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The Fee for Countering Extremism is at the moment led by Robin Simcox, whose appointment to the function in 2021 was described by Mend, a Muslim advocacy organisation, as “deeply worrying for Muslim communities”.
Simcox has beforehand known as on the UK authorities to “push again” towards using the time period “Islamophobia” as a time period to explain prejudice and discrimination towards Muslims and Islam.
In a 2019 article for the Heritage Basis, a Washington-based conservative assume tank the place Simcox was beforehand a analysis fellow, he dismissed Islamophobia as a “slippery idea”.
Simcox wrote: “The anomaly and confusion across the which means of Islamophobia permits Islamists to make use of the time period to close down criticism of their faith and impose a casual blasphemy legislation on the sly.”
Simcox was previously a analysis fellow on the Henry Jackson Society, a neoconservative assume tank within the UK beforehand headed by Shawcross which has been accused of stoking Islamophobia.
Many Muslim advocacy organisations and human rights and civil liberties teams boycotted the Forestall assessment after Shawcross was chosen to guide it due to remarks he made in a speech as director of the assume tank in 2012, through which he mentioned: “Europe and Islam is among the biggest, most terrifying issues of our future.”
Simcox had welcomed Shawcross’s appointment, writing within the Jewish Chronicle newspaper that the federal government had “picked the most effective individual for the job”.
In a weblog put up on the federal government web site on Thursday, Simcox mentioned: “The Unbiased Evaluate of Forestall’s findings can solely help the search to maintain our nation secure from the menaces of extremism and terrorism.
“The Evaluate’s suggestions ought to show a big assist to authorities.
“The CCE is uniquely positioned to assist scrutinise how the suggestions revealed within the Unbiased Evaluate at the moment are carried out and embedded.”
The Fee for Countering Extremism was established in 2017, and commissioners are appointed by the House Secretary. It says it really works with the House Workplace but additionally “operates independently and at arm’s size from authorities”.
Commenting on Simcox’s involvement in implementing the assessment, Jacob Smith, UK accountability crew chief at Rights and Safety Worldwide (RSI), mentioned the federal government was “stretching the which means of independence past the purpose of absurdity”.
Smith advised MEE: “The federal government doesn’t seem to know what independence means. Slightly than appointing somebody via an in depth and clear recruitment course of, but once more they’ve chosen to rent somebody that already works for them, with civil servants to assist.”
RSI has beforehand questioned the independence of the Forestall assessment and threatened authorized motion towards the House Workplace.
Layla Aitlhadj, director of Forestall Watch, an advocacy organisation supporting folks affected by the programme, advised MEE: “It appears the phrase unbiased has misplaced all which means.”
“We’re witnessing the managed implementation of a failed, discriminatory coverage by folks related to the controversial Henry Jackson Society. This continues to boost questions on state-facilitated Islamophobia and democratic subversion.”
Shawcross’s assessment has been extensively rejected by Muslim neighborhood teams and human rights organisations.
The Muslim Council of Britain mentioned the assessment would “make Britain much less secure and can make British Muslims really feel notably weak”.
Ilyas Nagdee, Amnesty Worldwide UK’s racial justice director, mentioned the assessment was “riddled with biased considering, errors, and plain anti-Muslim prejudice”.
He added: “There’s rising proof that Forestall is having disastrous penalties for many individuals; eroding freedom of expression, clamping down on activism, making a compliant technology and impacting on particular person rights enshrined in legislation.
Ruth Ehrlich, head of coverage and campaigns at Liberty, mentioned the federal government’s acceptance of Shawcross’s suggestions confirmed it was “not dedicated to participating meaningfully with Muslim communities however as an alternative concentrating on them additional”.
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