April 12, 2013

Comprehensive Anti-Terrorism Convention Still Eludes Agreement, Ad Hoc Committee Chair says (Press Release), L/3210

http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs//2013/l3210.doc.htm

Click here to view this document in MS Word/PDF format

On Friday, the Ad-committee charged with drafting a comprehensive convention against terrorism more than a decade ago, ended once again with no agreement. The coordinator made the problem clear: states from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) refused to accept a definition of terrorism that didn't permit horrors perpetrated in the name of combating "colonial or alien domination and foreign occupation." Here's the coordinator's report of the week-long meeting: "Several delegations emphasized the need to distinguish terrorism from the legitimate struggle of peoples under colonial or alien domination and foreign occupation in the exercise of their right to self-determination." Instead of agreeing to condemn a phenomenon all could agree was unacceptable, OIC countries "stressed the need to address the root causes of terrorism and the conditions conducive to terrorism." Egypt led a move to have an international UN conference that would adopt the "exclusionary elements" and address the so-called "root causes of terrorism." In other words, for Morsi's Egypt, the terrorist is the real victim.