Rights & Security International raises concerns about Prevent and Channel referrals data on race
6th March 2023
Rights & Security International (RSI) has raised concerns about trends it believes are suggested by data on ethnicity and race from the Governments Prevent and Channel programmes.
The London-based human rights organisation says the data it has obtained from the Home Office prompts concerns that people recorded as Asian and cases recorded as u201cIslamist relatedu201d have been subject to comparatively greater scrutiny than other ethnic groups and types of ideology in the years 2015 to 2019 (the years covered by the released data).
The Prevent programme is part of the Governments counter-terrorism strategy, but people referred to the programme do not need to be suspected of intending to engage in any type of violence. Channel is a multi-agency programme, and its stated aim is to identify and support at-risk individuals who have been referred via Prevent.
One of RSIs key concerns about Prevent and Channel has been the potentially disproportionate and discriminatory implementation of these programmes against groups that have historically experienced bias in the UK, in particular Muslims and individuals of South Asian, African and/or Middle Eastern descent.
RSI obtained data covering the years 2015 to 2019 through a Freedom of Information (FoI) request and analysed it with sociologist Dr Zin Derfoufi of St Marys University London.
It says the data it has analysed suggests that officials involved in the Prevent and Channel processes treated cases recorded as raising Islamist concerns more seriously than they treated cases raising other types of concerns, even as the number of referrals to Prevent for other types of concerns increased.
Despite decreases over time in the Channel caseloads of people recorded as Asian, Home Office data on terrorism-related criminal arrests and charges shows Asian Britons are more likely to face terror-related criminal justice measures. Dr Derfoufi and RSI said this suggests officials may view suspected extremist beliefs among people recorded as white as a concern to pursue through non-criminal measures such as Channel, if at all, while viewing suspected extremist beliefs among people of Asian descent as a criminal justice matter.
The FoI request seeking data about people referred to Prevent and Channel, disaggregated by race and ethnicity, was submitted by Leigh Day on RSIs behalf in March 2021 and the information has only recently been released following a complaint to and intervention by the Information Commissioner.
The Home Office initially refused the request, and its decision not to release the data on the grounds of national security (Section 24 of the Freedom of Information Act) was upheld following an internal review.
When releasing the information, the Home Office provided a number of caveats about the poor quality of the data and said that RSI was required to publish them. This has prompted RSI to raise concerns about the effect of such caveats, including on freedom of speech, particularly since the Home Office provided no legal basis for saying that RSI must publish its statements.
In its response, the Home Office indicated that the government does not systematically collect such data about the race of people impacted by Prevent and Channel, noting that the incomplete information the Home Office does hold about the race and ethnicity is data … as recorded by the case officer. RSI says this approach raises concerns that officials may be making their own judgements about an individuals race or ethnicity. The Home Office did not explain how officials decided whether – in their view – a persons race or ethnicity was relevant to Prevent or Channel discussions.
RSI hasraised concerns about the independence of the Prevent Reviewthat finally published a report last week after more than a years delay. RSI is concerned that the Review apparently did not engage with the data RSI has now obtained