Sara Khan, the UK commissioner for countering extremism, sent a letter to the leaders of the Conservative, Labour, and Liberal Democrats parties with a call that they find a more proactive approach to fighting extremism in the United Kingdom, the UK government said on Tuesday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th November, 2019) Sara Khan, the UK commissioner for countering extremism, sent a letter to the leaders of the Conservative, Labour, and Liberal Democrats parties with a call that they find a more proactive approach to fighting extremism in the United Kingdom, the UK government said on Tuesday.
The letter is a follow-up to her Challenging Hateful Extremism report, published on October 7, in which she warns about the rise of violent extremist attitudes of all strains in the country.
"Hateful extremism is undermining the social fabric of our country and is having a devastating impact on the lives of individuals, communities and the country as a whole. Having gathered extensive research from across the country over the last 18 months, my report 'Challenging Hateful Extremism' makes clear inaction is quite simply not an option," Khan wrote in her letter, which was sent to Prime Minister and Conservative Party leader Boris Johnson, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and LibDem leader Jo Swinson.
She put forward several recommendations on how to tackle the issue more effectively, such as coming up with a society-wide initiative to combat hateful extremism, conducting a review of current legal powers and creating a task force that will coordinate anti-extremist activity throughout the country.
"I hope your manifesto and the campaign you run will recognise the impact of hateful extremism on our society, as well as the need to support new and innovative ways to counter it as I have put forward in my report... My Commission is committed to promoting a peaceful, plural and inclusive Britain; a vision for Britain that hateful extremists are seeking to undermine," she concluded.
According to the Crown Prosecution Service hate crime report for the April 2017-March 2018 period, the number of hate crime referrals from the police has increased to 11,200, compared to 10,706 in the 2016-2017 report. The number of completed prosecutions has slightly decreased from 12,004 to 11,881.
