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THE PLENARY SESSIONThe Plenary Session held five meetings during which the heads of delegation delivered their addresses to the conference and carefully examined the recommendations submitted in the workshops. The heads of delegations' addresses in the fourth session held on Sunday 26/12/1425H included the following: The Head of delegation of Denmark expressed his country's satisfaction and appreciation of the Kingdom's initiative in convening this conference. He pointed to the unpredictable nature of the terrorist threat and the importance of blocking their access to nuclear arms. The Head of delegation of Tunisia welcomed the Kingdom's initiative in holding this conference and expressed his country's support for the proposal submitted by HRH the Crown Prince to establish an international centre for countering terrorism. Tunisia has been successful, he said, in overcoming extremist groups who work under the guise of religion by adopting a multiple strategy. In its efforts to fight terrorism, it accorded particular attention to illegal immigration and the counterfeiting of travel documents and visas. Also it ratified the 12 agreements as well as the other regional agreements. The Head of delegation of Argentine expressed his appreciation of the Kingdom's call to convene this conference and emphasized that counter terrorism efforts, while requiring international solidarity within the framework of the United Nations, should not preclude respect for human rights. There was no justification, he said, for killing civilians under occupation. He also referred to the links existing between terror and organized crime as well as to his country's commitment to fighting terror and its willingness to cooperate in every effort made on this score. The Head of the Afghan delegation expressed the appreciation of his country for the Kingdom's initiative to convene this conference and pointed out that Afghanistan is the biggest victim of terrorism in the world especially the terrorism of AI-Qaeda organization and that it has carried out some military operations against the terrorist groups in Afghanistan under the international coalition against terrorism. The Kenyan head of delegation indicated that the convening of this conference underscores the anxiousness and wisdom of the government of Saudi Arabia. It also reflects its commitment to fighting terrorism to ensure world peace and security. He also pointed out that Kenya has suffered from terrorist acts, that it is fully committed to all the international efforts to fight terrorism and that it has ratified all the international conventions in this respect. The French Head of delegation expressed his country's appreciation for the Kingdom's convening of this conference and stressed that France has for many years faced terrorism and reiterated his country's resolve to combat terrorism. He also indicated that his country is seriously looking into the preventive aspects for fighting terrorism; something which is dependant upon information in the first place. He also stressed the need to devote utmost attention to the issue of illegal immigration and the importance of the role of reli~ous leaders, Muslims and others, in spreading the spirits of concord, approchement and tolerance vis-A-vis other faiths in addition to taking into consideration the political and social aspects likely to help integrate all the groups of the people into one single set. Finally, he stressed France's refusal to associate reli~on with extremism. The Head of the Kingdom of Bahrain's delegation stated the support of his country for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait with respect to the measures that have been taken to fight terrorist acts as well as its backing of the initiative of HRH the Crown Prince to establish an international centre to fight terrorism. He also underlined the importance of cooperation and information- sharing including the setting up of a comprehensive data base to be made available to all countries and establish re~onal centres to promote bilateral cooperation. Ethiopia's Head of delegation pointed out in his address that his country has been the target of many terrorist acts and that his country is quite willing and ready to cooperate with international efforts to fight terrorism, The Head of the Brazilian delegation stressed the commitment of his country to combat terrorism and the importance of establishing a global strategy to coordinate international efforts against terrorism. He further stressed the respect of international legality indicating that Brazil does not see any direct link between terrorism and poverty and that terrorism is linked to no reli~on, race or re~on. He called for precaution as to the link between terrorism and organized crime as the common point between the two is not confirmed in all cases, .In conclusion, the chairman of the session took the floor and stressed the need for the delegates to focus on the proposals made by the delegates over the last two days in order to reach practical results likely to foster international cooperation in the field of counter-terrorism and to save the world from the dangerous evils thereof, pointing out that there is obvious consensus on the fact that terrorism is a trans-border phenomenon and has nothing to do with any religion, race or nationality. The addresses made by the majority of delegates stressed the need to tackle the danger of terrorism in a global way including the fight against fundamentalist ideas that encourage terrorism, through the dissemination of tolerance and dialogue values amongst civilizations, cultures and peoples. This also includes the fight against the growing relations between terrorism, money laundering, weapon business, drugs and the export of organized criminal activities. There was also a consensus as to the need to consolidate the role of the United Nations and to back international legality in combating terrorism. The majority of remarks stressed the major importance of promoting the ways for exchanging infonnation and experience among the specialized organs in fighting terrorism. In this regard, the absolute majority of participants supported the initiative of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of creating an international counter-terrorism organ which is entrusted with coordination among the specialized national agencies and securing the highest levels of cooperation and exchange of experience and infonnation amongst them. GENERAL ASSEMBLY Workshop IWorkshop I which considered the theme: "Roots of terrorism" concluded that identifying the root causes which provide suitable environment for the growth of terrorism is very difficult task. It emphasized that terrorism cannot be linked to a particular religion or race, nationality or geographic region. It particularly cautioned against any attempt to link terrorism with any religion. The workshop presented proposals on the appropriate mehansms to deal. with reasons fueling hatrd or incitement to olence, WhICh Include abject poverty, unjust SOCIal system, financIal and administrative corruption, political causes (foreign occupation), religious extremism, systematic violation of human rights, discrimination, economic marginalization and cultural denial. The workshop took the following dimensions:
Workshop IIWorkshop II which discussed the theme: "Relation between terrorism and money laundering, arms trade and drug trafficking" completed its work which dealt with the following issues: 1. International regional and bilateral cooperation to identify and dismantle the financial risk of terrorism and organized crime and to prevent the spread of weapons and drugs trafficking. 2. International financial criteria on combating money laundering and United Nations conventions and Security Council resolutions relevant to the workshop's concern. 3. Unified international criteria to ensure that non-profit charitable and humanitarian organizations regulate their work and to prevent them from being used for illegitimate activities. 4. National and bilateral cooperation and coordination between specialized agencies on combating terrorism, money laundering, and drugs trafficking and support for information and expertise exchange. Workshop IIIWorkshop III which discussed the theme: "Counter terrorism experiences of different countries" completed its work which took the following dimensions: 1. Coordination and exchange of information and expertise among counter-terrorism agencies throughout the world. 2. Transfer of technology used by advanced countries in counter terrorism to countries lacking the technology. 3. Training and exchange of equipment and methods for dealing with upcoming terrorist organizations. Workshop IVWorkshop IV on the theme: "Terrorist organizations and formations" completed its work which included appropriate mechanisms for preventing the groWth or expansion of terrorist organizations and the means of international cooperation in that regard. The workshop took the following dimensions: 1. !e~orist organizati.ons, training camps, recruitment, training and InCItement of terronsts. 2. The use by terrorists of other countries, places and safe havens and abuse of human rights activities and political asylum laws. 3. Differentiation between legitimate religious, political, charitable and educational activities and the provision of training and cover for terrorists, ensuring that religious, educational facilities or civil charitable organizations are not abused. 4. Role of parents, teachers, educational and political activities. 5. Information exchange in the area of intelligence, policing, immigration and counter-terrorism. 6. International criteria to track terrorists, extremists and their collective activities. |