Britain will establish a new Commission for Countering Extremism to clamp down on “unacceptable cultural norms” such as female genital mutilation.

It will also ensure that women’s rights are upheld in all of Britain’s ethnic and religious communities, Prime Minister Theresa May said on Saturday.

She was fleshing out further details of the commission proposed in the Conservative manifesto for the June 8 General Election.

The commission will help the government identify policies to defeat extremism and promote pluralistic values, she said.

May described her “harrowing” visit to Manchester Children’s Hospital to meet victims of Monday’s suicide bomb attack at a pop concert in the city, saying the atrocity was “particularly sickening” because it targeted young people.

“What was clear to me was the intense trauma of this. There are the physical injuries that people go through and that have to be treated in hospital.

“But there is also the impact of the memories of what you have seen and what you have been through. It must have been horrific for parents to receive that phone call.”

Experts have suggested suicide bomber’s decision to target a pop concert attended by teenage girls may have been driven in part by radical Islamists’ opposition to the freedoms enjoyed by women in Western societies.

CCTV captured Manchester bomber minutes before he killed himself and 22 victims.

And the prime minister made clear that the commission will be expected to stand up for women’s rights as extremism often goes hand in hand with poor treatment of women and girls.

A Conservative government would give the commission teeth by making it a statutory body with a legal responsibility to identify extremism and support people and organisations in resisting it, she said.

It will advise the government on new criminal offences and policies to defeat extremists and will offer assistance to public sector bodies in identifying extremism and stamping it out.
-AAP