Preventing Violent Extremism

This article is part of the Counter-Terrorism Portal project of Spinwatch.

The Preventing Violent Extremism Programme is the official name of Prevent strand of the British government's counter-terrorism strategy - Contest 2. It is sometimes abbreviated as PVE.

It is managed and funded by the Department for Communities and Local Government, the Foreign Office, the Police services and the Home Office and its affiliates, such as the Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism and Research, Information and Communications Unit

Objectives

The fundamental objectives of PVE are to engage and work with Muslim communities to:

• Undermine extremist voices and ideologies so that mainstream voices can speak for the majority of Muslims, who are peaceful and law-abiding citizens

• Disrupt those who promote violence as a methodology for change by strengthening moderate voices and their ability to counter the simplistic arguments and solutions to perceived and real grievances.

• Work with law-enforcement agencies, communities and community leaders to help bring back individuals who may be showing signs of radicalisation and/or extremism through programmes such as the Preventing Violent Extremism Pathfinder Fund

• Strengthen the Muslim community as a whole to counter the ideas and beliefs of extremists

• Address the grievances that extremists may use to justify their arguments and actions, such as the Iraq war.

Criticisms

In October 2009, the Guardian reported that Preventing Violent Extremism was being used "to gather intelligence about innocent people who are not suspected of involvement in terrorism". The Director of the Human Rights organisation Liberty - Shami Chakrabati "branded [PVE] as the biggest spying programme in Britain in modern times and an affront to civil liberties".