London - CAGE welcomes Amnesty International’s calls to abolish PREVENT in its recent report. Amnesty’s call echoes that of the broader Abolish Prevent movement that has campaigned relentlessly against this toxic policy since the inception of the strategy.
The report reveals the disturbing truth about PREVENT. It highlights how this insidious strategy infringes on fundamental rights, including freedom of expression, thought, conscience, and religion. Non-violent political beliefs and expressions have led to referrals, undermining the very principles of freedom and democracy that the UK claims to uphold.
The report makes a number of valuable recommendations including highlighting the dangers of broad definitions of terrorism and calling for a focus on the deeper root causes of cycles of violence, positions that CAGE has also campaigned for many years..
While CAGE welcomes Amnesty International’s call for the abolition of the PREVENT duty under the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015, we encourage Amnesty to go further and call for the annulment of the broader PREVENT Strategy in its entirety.
Anas Mustapha, Head of Public Advocacy at CAGE, said:
“Amnesty’s call for the abolition of PREVENT is very welcome. It comes as the strategy is facing a crisis following the botched and partisan “independent review” by William Shawcross. Over the years, the abolish Prevent movement has been subject to repeated smears, CAGE especially earning the ire of the Home Office and the Government due to its principled opposition. This report should encourage others to demand the scrapping of PREVENT duty and the broader strategy.”
<span style="font-weight: 400;">London - CAGE welcomes Amnesty International’s calls to abolish PREVENT in its <a href="https://www.amnesty.org.uk/Prevent">recent report</a>. Amnesty’s call echoes that of the broader <a href="https://abolishprevent.com/">Abolish Prevent</a> movement that has campaigned relentlessly against this toxic policy since the inception of the strategy. </span>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">The report reveals the disturbing truth about PREVENT. It highlights how this insidious strategy infringes on fundamental rights, including freedom of expression, thought, conscience, and religion. Non-violent political beliefs and expressions have led to referrals, undermining the very principles of freedom and democracy that the UK claims to uphold.</span>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">The report makes a number of valuable recommendations including highlighting the dangers of broad definitions of terrorism and calling for a focus on the deeper root causes of cycles of violence, positions that CAGE has also campaigned for many years.. </span>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">While CAGE welcomes Amnesty International’s call for the abolition of the PREVENT duty under the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015, we encourage Amnesty to go further and call for the annulment of the broader PREVENT Strategy in its entirety. </span>
<h3>Anas Mustapha, Head of Public Advocacy at CAGE, said:</h3>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">“Amnesty’s call for the abolition of PREVENT is very welcome. It comes as the strategy is facing a crisis following the botched and partisan “independent review” by William Shawcross. Over the years, the abolish Prevent movement has been subject to repeated smears, CAGE especially earning the ire of the Home Office and the Government due to its principled opposition. This report should encourage others to demand the scrapping of PREVENT duty and the broader strategy.”</span>
