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Challenging Hateful Extremism

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Challenging Hateful Extremism Challenging Hateful Extremism October 2019 Our Vision for Challenging Hateful Extremism Our vision is one where together we uphold our democratic way of life in a peaceful, plural and inclusive society that opposes intolerance; where people exercise individual liberty and take personal responsibility for promoting equal citizenship, recognising the harm extremist behaviours cause to everyone; and where our communities and institutions robustly challenge and resist hateful extremism and support those affected by it. Commission for Countering Extremism Foreword Hateful extremism demands a response. reviewed the Strategy and its delivery it is my From inspiring terrorist attacks, to hateful view that the current response is insufficient extremist groups engaging in persistent and too broad. hostility, we are grappling with what is a global challenge. If we are to be successful in reducing the extremist threat in our country, we must However, extremism, and how we counter it, focus on challenging hateful extremism. is a complex and contested policy area. The My report shows the destructive effect debate is often polarised and abusive; not hateful extremism is having on the lives helped by the overuse of the E-word. This of individuals, our communities and is particularly evident in these politically wider society. febrile times. Counter extremism policy over the years This climate makes serious discussions has also been characterised by a top-down about extremism challenging. And yet it is approach. The voices of the wider public, vital that we have those discussions. victims and counter extremism practitioners have been missing. That is why I have I have worked in the field of counter invested in extensive engagement, meeting extremism for over ten years. I know what it’s thousands of people across England and like to challenge extremism. It’s demanding Wales. It is clear that victims of extremism work and there’s little support. I also have not been acknowledged or protected know how it feels to be a victim, targeted and continue to be targeted by extremists. by extremists. Counter-extremists experience frightening When I took on the role as Lead levels of hostility alongside a lack of support Commissioner, I was acutely aware that and funding. Social division caused by hateful we lack the clarity, the language and extremists is fracturing our communities. the consensus to effectively counter this What I heard was informative, shocking and harmful phenomenon. worrying. Some of the stories have left me Our country has a robust response in place to heartbroken. People, young and old, have counter terrorism. In 2015 the Government cried as they described how extremists recognised the need to counter extremism targeted them because of their sexuality, outside of terrorism and launched the their gender, their race or religious identity. first Counter Extremism Strategy. Having Taking a victim centred approach is essential in any counter extremism strategy. 1 Commission for Countering Extremism We must not allow extremists to normalise I want to see a strengthened Commission for their hatred in our country. Countering Extremism to help defend our plural, tolerant and broad-minded society. There is a fear that countering extremism can undermine civil liberties and in particular, My Commission has begun the job of freedom of expression. As a human rights examining the existence of hateful extremism campaigner I recognise these concerns. and the negative consequences to our society. Authoritarian regimes have used ‘counter terrorism’ and ‘counter extremism’ to silence We will continue to drive the whole society dissent and criticism. response we need. We need to conduct more research, to gather more evidence about the There is no doubt in my mind: we must impact on victims and to develop evidence- continue to protect and preserve freedom of based interventions. expression. This includes offensive, critical and shocking speech. But above all, we need brave, bold and consistent leadership both within In this report I propose a new approach to Government and across civil society. counter extremism. A rights-based and proportionate response to ensure that checks I would like to thank the many people who and balances are in place when countering have contributed their experience, their extremism. evidence and their wisdom to this work. But extremism itself is a human rights I am particularly grateful to my Expert Group issue – this isn’t acknowledged enough. for the independent challenge and advice Hateful extremists seek to restrict individual they provided as I delivered this work and liberties and curtail the fundamental prepared this report. freedoms that define our country. Time and Together, we must build a whole society again I have seen how extremist activity has response to help those who are vulnerable contributed to a climate of censorship and to extremism while challenging those fear, limiting freedom of expression, freedom who actively seek to divide and undermine of religion or belief and undermining the our country. universality and indivisibility of human rights. Our country has a long tradition of championing rights; from Magna Carta in 1215 to the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Human Rights Act 1998. Hateful extremism stands in stark contrast to the rights and freedoms that we enjoy. Sara Khan Lead Commissioner It is precisely for this reason I have spent so much of my life challenging extremism and will continue to do so as Lead Commissioner. 2 Commission for Countering Extremism 3 Commission for Countering Extremism EXTREMISM IN ENGLAND AND WALES 73% of people are concerned 2018 about rising saw the biggest Far Right marches extremism in a generation. 52% 75% 59% of the respondents to a Three Of the public respondents first-of-its kind call for who said they had evidence have witnessed quarters witnessed extremism, extremism in some way. Islamist extremism (59%) of the public was the most common. respondents find the 56% of the public and Government's 73% of practitioners Over agreed that “a lot more” current should be done to counter 3/4 extremism online. definition of extremism of those countering extremism face some "very unhelpful" degree of abuse for the Prosecutions for inciting work they do. hatred are as high as or "unhelpful" they have ever been since statistics first began in 2010. Recorded religious When asked who has a role to play, practitioner hate crime has increased respondents’ top choice was social media; over twice as fast as other forms since 2015. tech companies and the public respondents chose faith groups and leaders. 4 Commission for Countering Extremism Executive Summary Hateful extremism threatens our ability to Drawing on this wide range of evidence and live well together. From inspiring violence to having reviewed the Government’s Counter- the incitement of active hatred and hostility Extremism Strategy and definition of 2015, targeted at those perceived to be a threat this report proposes a bold new approach to their world-view, hateful extremists are focussed on hateful extremism. We need having a devastating impact on victims and to develop a set of diverse yet robust and threatening the social fabric of our country. proportionate responses to it. Extremism requires an urgent and effective At the same time, protecting democratic response. Our country’s response to violent debate and freedom of expression is vital. extremism and terrorism is robust and This includes defending speech and actions effective. However violent extremism requires which can be offensive, shocking, dissenting a different strategy to hateful extremism. Our and critical; or advocates for conservative evidence shows that a significant gap exists in religious beliefs. This is why we are taking a our response to hateful extremism. rights-based approach to challenging hateful extremism. Our ability to counter extremism outside of terrorism has been hampered by a lack of Describing Hateful Extremism consensus: on what we mean by extremism, on what our response should look like and The experiences of the public, victims and on what role Government and civil society front-line counter extremists have often should play. been missing from the debate; yet it is their voices which are vital in shaping counter Launched last year, the Commission has held extremism policy. We heard moving stories the most extensive national conversation from victims and from all kinds of people and on extremism. places about the serious and long-lasting The Commission has met thousands of harms of extremism. We have identified these people including those critical of counter harms for the first time, which will enable extremism (CE). We received nearly further research. 3,000 submissions to our first ever public Many people are affected – over half of consultation, visited over 20 towns and cities, respondents to our public consultation had held 16 roundtables, reviewed hundreds witnessed extremism, with one in five having of pages of Government documents and witnessed it in their local area. Extremism commissioned 19 academic papers. is not confined to a single race, religion or ideology. Concerns were raised about the growing threat of the Far Right, Far 5 Commission for Countering Extremism Left, Islamist and other forms of religious What Does Hateful fundamentalisms; and animal rights extremism. Extremism Look Like? Hateful, hostile and supremacist beliefs are The concerns people told us about that are increasingly visible in our country today. The harmful and lie outside democratic debate Far Right’s narratives of a racial or cultural fall into three categories: terrorism and threat to “natives” from “aliens” have been violent extremism, hateful extremism and the making their way into the mainstream. As restriction of rights and freedoms. are Islamists’ ideas for defending a single It is our view that across this spectrum, communal Muslim identity against the countering hateful extremism requires the West’s corrupting influence. And the Far greatest attention and focus if we are to be Left’s conflation of anti-imperialism and successful in reducing the extremist threat.
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