Scottish Preventing Violent Extremism Unit

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

The Scottish Preventing Violent Extremism Unit (SPVEU) was setup in July 2009 by the Scottish (SNP) Government and the Association of Chief Police Officers Scotland (ACPOS) in order to co-ordinate the delivery of the Prevent strand of Contest, the United Kingdom's counter-terror strategy, in Scotland.

The SPVEU is situated within the Equalities, Social Inclusion and Sport Division, which is currently headed by Liz Hunter. Even though counter-terrorism policy formulation is reserved by the Westminster government, the actual implementation and prevention of violent extremism is managed and controlled by the Scottish government and it’s devolved, local agencies.

According to the Scottish Government Website: “all Prevent activity in Scotland is reported to the CONTEST (counter terrorism) Scotland Board. This Board oversees the delivery of CONTEST in Scotland and involves representatives from across the Scottish Government and national and local statutory partner.”[1]

The SPVEU works in close cooperation with the Scottish Government, the Scottish Police Services, local statutory agencies and the Muslim community, amongst others.

Views of SPVEU

At a Conference for Scottish Institute for Policing Research, the coordinators of the SPVEU – Nick Croft and George Denholm stated that in relation to whether the "official response to the terrorist threat [has] created more problems that it has solved", both Croft and Denholm argued the following:


Criticisms

Scotland Against Criminalising Communities (SACC) issued a critical press release regarding the setting up of the SPVEU one month before prior to it’s commenccment. It called the creation of the SPVEU “madness” [2] and criticised the Prevent strand of Contest as “a fundamentally racist programme that treats the whole of the Muslim community as a suspect community”. [3] The SNP also faced heavy criticism. SACC argued that the SNP stated that they opposed the War in Iraq but by accepting responsibility for a Westminster led initiative on counter-terrorism, they have taken on a programme “that has been poisoned by an intimate connection with the war [in Iraq]”.[4] They also believe that the Scottish Government should not have taken on the programme, or become involved with it because they have “no power to change the fundamental flaws in the strategy”. [5]

In a damning verdict on the SPVEU and the Scottish government, SACC stated:

people in Scotland to steer well clear of the Scottish Preventing Violent Extremism Unit and the Prevent programme. We hope that they will turn instead to groups that work in the same spirit as we do – groups like the Stop the War Coalition, Glasgow Campaign to Welcome Refugees, the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign and the various other groups campaigning for justice for the Palestinian people and for other oppressed groups. Campaigns like these bring people of all communities together in clear opposition to racism, war and injustice and in support of values held dear by all decent people.[6]

People

See also

Resources

Notes

  1. ↑ Preventing Violent Extremism, The Scottish Government, accessed 19 February 2009
  2. ↑ Counter-Terrorism Unit Undermines Scotland’s Struggle Against Racism Scotland Against Criminalising Communities (SACC), 11 June 2009, accessed 19 February 2010
  3. ↑ Counter-Terrorism Unit Undermines Scotland’s Struggle Against Racism Scotland Against Criminalising Communities (SACC), 11 June 2009, accessed 19 February 2010
  4. ↑ Counter-Terrorism Unit Undermines Scotland’s Struggle Against Racism Scotland Against Criminalising Communities (SACC), 11 June 2009, accessed 19 February 2010
  5. ↑ Counter-Terrorism Unit Undermines Scotland’s Struggle Against Racism Scotland Against Criminalising Communities (SACC), 11 June 2009, accessed 19 February 2010
  6. ↑ Counter-Terrorism Unit Undermines Scotland’s Struggle Against Racism Scotland Against Criminalising Communities (SACC), 11 June 2009, accessed 19 February 2010
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