Tufyal Choudhury

The impact of counter-terrorism measures on Muslim communities

Concerns have been raised that counter-terrorism laws and policies are increasingly alienating Muslims, especially young people and students, and that counter-terrorism measures may themselves feed and sustain terrorism. This paper relies on extracts from a report on this issue commissioned by the Equality and Human Rights Commission to develop and deepen understanding of the impact of counter-terrorism legislation and policies in general, and on Muslim communities in particular. Building on existing studies, this report contributes to the research and wider public discussion of this matter through an examination of the experiences of counter-terrorism legislation and policies on Muslim communities in four local areas across Britain and interviews with practitioners and officials at a national and local level. The areas focused on relate in particular to various uses of technology to further counter-terror strategies and the reaction to them of those interviewed.

The Commission for Equality and Human Rights : designing the Big Tent.

In Great Britain a new Commission for Equality and Human Rights (hereafter the CEHR or the Commission) will be in operation from 2007. The CEHR will replace the existing commissions for sex, race and disability discrimination and have responsibility for age, religion and belief, sexual orientation and human rights. This paper explores the role the existing commissions played in shaping the structure, responsibilities and powers of the CEHR. The paper argues that the creation of the new commission revealed tensions between the role such bodies play as regulatory agencies and their importance in providing a voice for groups and individuals that experience discrimination. The author argues that, while initial proposals emphasised the role of the CEHR as a regulatory agency, in the course of the consultative and legislative process, new and imaginative mechanisms were introduced to ensure the experiences of those that face discrimination informs the CEHRs work. However, the author also argues that an opportunity was missed to strengthen both the regulatory and representative role of the CEHR through greater structural independence for the CEHR from government and in the introduction of a single equality act that would ensure that all strands went into the new Commission on an equal legislative footing.

Campaigning on Campus: Student Islamic Societies and Counterterrorism

ABSTRACT Cooperation in counterterrorism policing increases when communities can be confident that legislation and policy is not implemented in an arbitrary or discriminatory fashion: the ability to challenge executive overstretch, abuse, or misapplication of powers is vital for maintaining procedural justice. Through examining the experiences of the Federation of Student Islamic Societies, one of the oldest British Muslim civil society organizations, we see how key structural features of the counterterrorism legal and policy framework—the wide definition of terrorism, the broad discretion in the use of stop and search powers at ports, and the expansion of Prevent into the opaque terrain of nonviolent extremism—undermine cooperation.

Muslims Communities and Counterterrorism: The Dynamics of Exclusion and Possibilities of Inclusion

An effective counterterrorism strategy needs to have a detailed understanding of Muslim communities in the UK. A complex picture of the diversity of Muslims in Britain is needed to ensure a clearer understanding of the various ways in which counterterrorism policies impact on different parts of Muslim communities. It is also critical to be alert to the dangers that counterterrorism polices can reinforce existing processes of social exclusion and alienation. The importance of socio-economic marginalisation to counterterrorism policy arises from the role that it plays in the “radicalisation” process. Engagement with Muslim communities in needed for effective policy development. Yet there are potential risks and dangers that Government in the processes of engagement with Muslim communities and in the creation of new laws and offences for tackling terrorism is increasing a sense, among Muslims, of being treated as a “suspect community.”