International Women's Day - Preventing Women: the impact of Prevent on access to services - the women's experience

The Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 imposed a duty on a wide range of authorities to have ‘due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism’.

Topics covered in this event will include whether women are inhibited in accessing services and whether essential funding for women’s organisations is being tied to the Prevent agenda.

By promoting a public discussion, we will examine women’s empowerment at a grassroots level in disenfranchised communities and the impact (adverse or otherwise) of the Prevent agenda.

As part of the International Women's Day themes of ‘being bold for change’ and 'women helping other women', we will be inviting discussion on: how can women be positively supported to make a contribution to the security of their families and communities?

Speakers

• Pragna Patel, Founding Member and Director of Southall Black Sisters
• Sultana Parvin has worked extensively within the Muslim community for 20 years. Prevent has been a recent point of discourse amongst those she knows. She is currently training in the field of education and is part of #spokenwordmovement which produces materials on issues affecting women of colour and faith
• Ifhat Shaheen-Smith, mother of a child who was referred to Prevent due to his use of the word ‘eco-terrorism’ in class. Ifhat also campaigned for ‘Islam is Peace’, raising the profile of Muslims living in peace with their neighbours in non-Muslim societies and she took The Telegraph to task for misreporting
• Amanda Weston, Barrister, Garden Court Chambers. Amanda has worked on a number of cases addressing the impact of the Prevent duty on public authorities' decision-making
• Susan Bryant, Barrister, Garden Court Chambers. Susan has worked on a number of cases in which referrals under the Prevent duty have been considered and ultimately avoided. She has advised organisations who have experienced loss of funding as a result of not cooperating with Prevent. She is former head of Rights Watch (UK).

Entry to this event is by invitation only. However, if you are interested in attending, please email seminars@gclaw.co.uk