Next Century Foundation Senior Research Officer on Terrorism and Extremism Cristina De Leo addresses the United Nations Human Rights Council during its 62nd session, raising concerns about the UK’s growing reliance on restrictions on freedom of expression to address hate and extremism. She highlights the risks of suppressing rather than confronting extremist narratives, and calls for a greater emphasis on open dialogue and educational initiatives to foster critical thinking and build resilience against extremist ideologies.
NCF UN Oral Statement UNHRC62 session
Transcript:
In the United Kingdom, legislation aimed at tackling hate and extremism has increasingly relied on restrictions on expression.
Most recently, while the Online Safety Act has imposed welcome duties on online platforms to mitigate the amplification of harmful content, it has also sought to limit the spread of harmful ideas through a wider range of measures, including making it an offence to share certain forms of disinformation.
We are concerned that such measures reflect a tendency in UK policy to address hate and extremism through speech regulation. This trend is reflected in earlier legislation such as the Terrorism Act 2006, which criminalises certain expressions that glorify or justify terrorism.
While well-intentioned, these approaches are counterproductive. Suppressing extremist ideas does not eliminate them; it displaces them into less visible spaces where they develop and spread unchecked. To effectively counter extremist beliefs, they must be challenged, not hidden. This allows them to be scrutinised, which exposes their analytical flaws and helps diminish their appeal.
To address the growing threat of extremism, we urge the UK government to prioritise open dialogue over speech regulation.
To this end, it should develop educational initiatives that promote critical thinking skills and engagement with extremist narratives. This may include mandatory training in schools and universities on how to assess the reliability of sources, test arguments by evaluating evidence, and understand the emotional manipulation techniques commonly used by extremist groups to radicalise individuals.
