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UK: UN special rapporteur criticises government policies on return visit

22 April 2016

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"The UK government’s strategy to counter Islamist extremism is affecting the discussion of terrorism, the UN’s special rapporteur on the right to freedom of assembly has said.

Attempts to identify and counter Islamist extremism through the Prevent programme had “created unease and uncertainty around what can be legitimately discussed in public,” said Maina Kiai, at the end of a three-day visit to the UK in which he warned Britain must live up to its human rights commitments.

“I heard reports of teachers being reported for innocuous comments in class, for example,” Kiai said. “The spectre of Big Brother is so large, in fact, that I was informed that some families are afraid of discussing the negative effects of terrorism in their own homes, fearing their children would talk about it at school and have their intentions misconstrued.”"

See: Prevent strategy 'could end up promoting extremism' (The Guardian, link)

UN press release: Closing space for civil society in the UK, UN expert warns (pdf) and: Statement by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association at the conclusion of his visit to the United Kingdom (pdf)

And from Maina Kiai's 2013 visit to the UK: UN Special Rapporteur calls for a "judge-led public inquiry" into undercover police operations and condemns a number of other police practices and Report of the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Maina Kiai: Mission to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (Statewatch News Online)

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