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See other news storiesHome Secretary gives major counter-terrorism speech
17 January 2008
She calls for the nation to challenge the ideology of violent extremism.
Speaking in London at the first International Conference on Radicalisation and Political Violence, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith called terrorism 'a crime that doesn't discriminate.'
A growing threat
In a wide-ranging speech she set out the government's plans to respond to terror groups trained abroad who spread their messages of hate and rage to vulnerable youths on the internet.
The threat posed by terror Svengalis who work to seduce young people into believing that terrorism is a fully feasible outlet for their teenage anger is not insubstantial, she said.
She pointed out that the Security Service estimated that the number of people in the UK believed to be operating terrorists actually increased in 2007 from 1,600 to 2,000.
While some of that increase reflects the work done by police and counter-terror agents to identify those who pose a risk to society, some was undoubtedly down to increased recruitment by terror groups.
Last year alone, 42 people were convicted for terrorist offences relating to 16 known operations. Half of them pleaded guilty.
At this moment, there are five major terrorism trials underway in courts around the UK.
'These figures show that the threat is real and serious,' she said. 'And let me be clear - such terrorist outrages are crimes, first and foremost.
'First and foremost, terrorists are criminals.'
Ensuring justice for everyone
In the courts, they will be given the same human rights and access to justice that other criminals receive.
Despite the country's anger at their attempts to destroy it from within, we must not lose sight of our values even when faced with people who seem to have none.
'In this country we will uphold our common values by pursuing terrorists as criminals through our criminal justice system,' the Home Secretary said. 'They will get the justice that they deny to others.
'To succeed against terrorism and violent extremism in this country, we will depend not on force, but on force of argument. Not on authoritarianism, but on the authority that comes from shared values, shared rights and shared responsibilities.'
Changing the law to help police
In order to ensure that crimes of terror are prevented, and that those who attempt to commit those acts go to prison, the government has substantially increased funding for police and counter-terrorism.
To ensure that police and security services have the powers they need to fight back against the threat of terrorism, the government will soon introduce a counter-terrorism bill that gives them new legal rights.
Included in that act will be new or expanded powers related to:
- gathering and sharing information about terrorist suspects
- post-charge questioning of suspects
- tougher sentencing for offences tied in to terrorism
- the seizure and forfeiture of terrorist cash, property and other assets
Listening to people first
However, these changes will reflect the views of the many people who responded to government consultations, or who contacted the Home Office to express their feelings about counter-terrorism work, and the human rights of suspects will be protected.
Even after the new laws are introduced, the debate should and will continue, as that discussion will ultimately impact on the legislation itself.
'The way we respond to terrorism must reinforce our shared values - because it's on these values that our security ultimately rests,' she said.
It is this democratic process that the terrorists seek to disrupt and overturn. Their effort, by default, is anti-democratic. 'Terrorism must not drown dialogue.'
Still, she said, the debate will have one defining rule: 'I do not wish to discourage dissent or seek political conformity. I will not dictate how people should practice their religion or express their lawful opinions.
'But I will never accept any argument that seeks to legitimise and sanction mass murder.'
Approach will be widespread
The government intends to challenge the ideology of violent extremism behind the acts of terrorism. And whatever the outcome of the debate, the government's approach to dealing with terrorism will be widespread.
Already governmental agencies are working closely with Muslim groups, with anti-extremism counsellors in prisons, and with schools in at-risk neighbourhoods, giving them tools and training for dealing with extremism.
They are also working closely with the internet technology industry - as they have on issues like paedophilia - to identify how and where terrorist recruiters are working online to groom young people as future terrorists.
Obviously Muslim communities are most at risk when the propagandists of violent extremism spread their messages of violence, so there is a critical role in the government's efforts for Muslim organisations, institutions and civic groups.
Already, many Muslim groups are engaged in the effort, and the Home Secretary credited them with many unsung achievements so far, 'often done without a fanfare of publicity, but with quiet determination and great conviction.'
And it is 'quiet determination' that will ultimately prevail.
'The threat is real,' she said. 'The threat is live. But we must keep that firmly in perspective - it comes from a very small minority of people. The great majority of us, who share common values and principles, find the murder of innocent people abhorrent.'
