British Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday unveiled new planned measures aimed at countering jihadist ideology and stopping young Britons travelling to Syria, challenging Muslim communities to “ow
British Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday unveiled new planned measures aimed at countering jihadist ideology and stopping young Britons travelling to Syria, challenging Muslim communities to “own” the problem.
Key proposals in the plan include allowing parents to have passports re-moved from 16 and 17-year-olds, and barring th-ose with terrorism or extremist convictions from working with children and vulnerable people.
The new Counter-Extremism Strategy will also include a review of Britain’s citizenship rules with a stronger focus on the “good character” consideration to filter out extremists from those applying to be citizens.
“The fight against Islamist extremism is, I believe, one of the great struggles of our generation. In responding to this poisonous ideology, we face a choice,” Mr Cameron said on Monday.
“Do we close our eyes, put our kid gloves on and just hope that our values will somehow endure in the end Or do we get out there and make the case for those values, defend them with all that we’ve got and resolve to win the battle of ideas all over again ” The police says they have foiled several jihadist attacks in Britain, while hundreds of Britons are believed to have travelled to Syria and Iraq to join the Islamic State group, raising concerns that not enough is being done to counter extremism.
A 15-year old boy, thought to be Britain’s youngest person convicted of terrorism, was sentenced earlier this month to a minimum of five years in jail for plotting an IS-inspired “massacre” on an Anzac Day parade in Australia.
Mr Cameron called on the Muslim community to do more to combat the threat.
