الفهرس

‮Tunisia and its leading role

in anti-Terrorist action

Mrs. Saida CHTIOUI*

Mr. President,

Honorable Ladies and Gentlemen,

The spread of terrorism we are witnessing today throughout the world, despite many years of international cooperation aimed at dealing with this nefarious scourge, strengthens our belief that an effective response to terrorism requires a unified international approach and the avoidance of the fragmented efforts and disparity of views that have so far limited the international community’s ability to combat terrorism and avert its proliferation.

Since the early nineties, Tunisia was among the first countries to call, in different regional and international fora, for the adoption by the international community of comprehensive and efficient approach to tackle this scourge and to promote, as stated by the President of the Republic, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in his inaugural Statement to our Conference, a preventive action plan to deal with the root causes of this phenomenon, within a framework of international dialogue, solidarity and cooperation.

His Excellency President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali has called in 1989, from the Tribune of the United Nations’ General Assembly, for a collective debate to elaborate a Global Pact of Peace and Development between North and South and has also called since 1998 for an International Conference on terrorism, under the auspices of the United Nations, to adopt on a binding International Code of Conduct.

Tunisia has launched several initiatives aimed at promoting dialogue among civilizations and religions, out of the belief that such a dialogue is a preventive measure against the scourges of xenophobia, extremism and hatred.

A staunch believer in the vital role of the United Nations in combating terrorism, considered as a grave perversion of thought and conduct the impacts and consequences of which transcend national borders and threaten global security and stability, Tunisia has consistently supported international endeavors for an international comprehensive convention against international terrorism and an international consensus on the definition of terrorism.

Tunisia is also signatory to the different regional and international conventions dealing with the fight against terrorism and transnational organized crime and has endeavored to faithfully abide by the obligations set by the relevant United Nations’ Security Council’s resolutions and particularly through the regular submission of national reports to the various United Nations’ Committees on steps taken against terrorism.

On the national level, Tunisia has initiated a multi-dimensional preventive policy, comprising political, socio-economic, cultural and security measures, as well as a deterrent and strengthened legislation in conformity with the international conventions it has signed.

In that regard, Tunisia has adopted a new comprehensive law on the support of international anti-terrorism efforts and the prevention of money-laundering.

Mr. President,

Honorable Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is our belief that a closer and more efficient international anti-terrorism cooperation requires, in addition to common remedies and harmonized approaches, a higher international coordination in order to achieve an effective system capable of preventing the terrorist networks’ emergence and activities.

To that end, we believe that international efforts should focus in particular on the following dimensions:

1. The political dimension

Through the intensification of international efforts to reach a just and lasting settlement of the liberation struggles against foreign occupation and the chronic conflicts, in full respect of international law, in order to prevent the emergence of areas of tension that could offer a propitious environment for violence, extremism, hatred and terrorism.

2. The security, judicial and legal cooperation dimension

• The intensification of international security and judicial cooperation, particularly through the exchange of information related to terrorist networks and achieving the needed technical assistance between security agencies.

• Call on States to prevent the use of their territory or any facility under their sovereignty as a launch pad for terrorist activities against other states and to refrain from assisting terrorist networks and groups by extending protection to their leaders and providing the terrorist networks and groups with weapons, training, financing or any other assistance in planning, incitement and dissemination of their views by any means.

• The abidance by the legal framework regulating the granting of asylum in order to deprive terrorists from safe havens, and the need to refrain from granting political refugee status to persons proven guilty of terrorist activities in their home countries, in conformity with the relevant provisions of the Geneva Convention on refugee status and the third operative paragraph of Security Council resolution N°.1373.

• Warning against the danger of dissemination extremist views and ideas and urging all States to prevent and prosecute incitement to terrorist acts, in accordance with the relevant obligations stipulated by international law.

• The need for States to coordinate their efforts at the international and regional levels to combat terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, particularly on the Internet, and to harness the potential of the internet to combat the spread of terrorist ideologies.

3. The developmental dimension

• Highlighting the importance of eradicating the root causes of terrorism, including poverty, exclusion and marginalization, according to the objectives set out by the Millennium Declaration.

• Emphasis on the need to harness the political will for the achievement of the Millennium Goals and the establishment of cooperative and partnership relations within a holistic approach stemming from a global solidarity based development vision conducive for constructive relations between North and South.

• Emphasizing the importance of international coordination in order to launch cooperative mechanisms aimed at assisting the developing and least developed countries in overcoming the effects of terrorist acts and providing relief to the victims of such acts.

4. Cultural media dimension

• Promotion of a culture of peace, justice, human development, tolerance, ethnic, national and religious coexistence, and the respect for all religions, faiths and cultures by launching appropriate educational programs and raising awareness among all social categories.

• Rejection of any cultural and civilizational stereotyping and the emphasis on need to counter provocative acts aimed at peoples’ memory an sanctities.

• Exhortation of the relevant international and regional organizations to conduct dialogues between representatives of all religions in order to dispel the false and distorted perceptions disseminated by terrorist and extremist groups.

• Calling for the adoption of an international legal framework to prohibit the abuse of religions and religious symbols and to set rules for the handling by the media of religion and faith issues.

• Emphasizing the need for the media to tackle the issues of terrorism in a spirit of responsibility and objectivity and urging the media institutions to avoid any glorification of violence, hatred, racism and to respect the dignity of terrorism victims, and refrain from promoting terrorist discourse and conducting interviews with extremists and terrorists.

5. Educational dimension

• Stressing the need to develop educational curricula through harnessing the modern information and communication technologies do as to narrow the digital divide and open new prospects for younger generations and enable them to fully participate in the knowledge society and communicate with people from different countries, races and religious backgrounds, thus contributing to establishing a dialogue based on mutual understanding and interaction between all cultures.

• International and relevant regional organizations could play an effective role in this regard.

• Paying a special attention to educators’ training and stressing on the need to re-evaluate the educational curricula as needed, in order to develop their content and methodologies so as to heighten the awareness of the importance of intercultural dialogue and the respect of cultural specificities as a sources of enrichment, within the common human values and the shared principles of peace, justice, tolerance as wall as the rejection of extremism, terrorism and the denial of others.

• Calling upon the civil society to play a proactive role in addressing the phenomenon of terrorism and urging the think thanks throughout the world to make additional efforts in further studying the driving forces behind terrorism.

Mr. President,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Tunisia has strived, under the leadership of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, to address the afore-mentioned dimension, in order to apply the appropriate remedies to the terrorism phenomenon at the domestic, regional and international levels. Tunisia has also endeavored within the various regional and international for a and in the course of its bilateral relations to draw attention to the dangers of this phenomenon and its threat to societies and States, as well as its damaging repercussions on international peace and security.

In conclusion, I wish to emphasize again that the promotion of global security, stability and prosperity depends on the achievement of security and stability by each country.

This compels us to establish an effective solidarity based international partnership firmly targeting the phenomenon of terrorism stemming from a moral commitment to the promotion of dialogue and mutual understanding between nations and peoples, irrespective of their religious, cultural and civilization specificities as well as their developmental status.

Thank you.

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(*) Secretary of State To the Tunisian Minister of Foreign Affairs, in charge of American and Asian Affairs Before

منشورات المنظمة الإسلامية للتربية والعلوم والثقافة ـ إيسيسكو ـ 1429هـ/2008م