UK government has no plans to broaden definition of extremism, says minister
The clarification came after a leaked government report listed ‘Hindu nationalist extremism’ and the Khalistan movement among threats in the United Kingdom.
The British government does not have any plans to broaden the definition of extremism, the country’s Home Office Minister Dan Jarvis said on Tuesday.
Jarvis’ clarification in Parliament came after reports that the UK government could expand the definition of extremism to cover “Hindu nationalist extremism” and “pro-Khalistan extremism”.
Parts of a report commissioned by the ministry were leaked to London-based think tank Policy Exchange.
On Tuesday, the minister of state for security said that Islamist extremism, followed by extremism by the Far Right, were the biggest threats faced by the United Kingdom.
However, he said, the July attack in Southport had highlighted a need for “action on those drawn towards mixed ideologies and violence-obsessed young people”.
The leaked document is not current or new government policy, Jarvis said.
The home office is responsible for immigration, internal security and policing in England and Wales.
UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, upon assuming office in July, had commissioned a review of the country’s approach to tackling extremism. Ministry officials were tasked with formulating a fresh counter-extremism strategy that would address online and offline threats from Islamists, the Far Right groups and other types of extremism.
The review was sped up in the aftermath of the murder of three children in Southport and the subsequent riots across the United Kingdom in late July, the BBC reported.
The UK government’s current definition of extremism is the promotion of an ideology based on violence, hatred or intolerance, that aims to negate fundamental rights and freedoms of other persons or undermine, overturn or replace the country’s liberal parliamentary democracy.
The leaked document recommends that the counter-extremism strategy should shift its focus to “behaviours” of concern rather than “ideologies”. While Policy Exchange did not publish the leaked report, it quoted from the document to share its own assessment.
The “behaviours of concern” include violence against women, spreading disinformation and conspiracy theories, fascination with gore or involvement in “an online subculture called the manosphere”, the leaked document was quoted as saying.
“Manosphere” refers to online forums and content that promote misogyny and oppose feminism.
According to Policy Exchange, the report points to “pro-Khalistan extremism”, “Hindu extremism”, “left-wing, anarchist and single issue (LASI) extremism” and “environmental extremism” as matters that the counter-extremist policy must tackle.
Khalistan refers to an independent Sikh country sought by some groups.
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