Britain said on Wednesday it would table a UN resolution on terrorism ahead of the General Assembly meeting next week, calling on nations not only to condemn terrorism but to act against its incitement at home.
"It is time we sent out a clear, unified message from the international community that it is no longer legitimate, not merely in terms of committing acts of terrorism but in terms of supporting or inciting it," British Prime Minister Tony Blair told a news conference in New Delhi at an EU-India summit.
Britain, which has taken steps at home to silence or deport radical Muslim preachers who incite terrorism since bomb attacks in London in July, wants other countries to do the same.
London is circulating a draft resolution at the United Nations in New York and hopes to get agreement to table it mid-next week for approval at next week's General Assembly, the prime minister told reporters.
Blair said he believed the mood was in favour of "quite tough action" and added: "There is a broad degree of support."
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, also at the Indian summit, told reporters similar resolutions had proved "complicated" in the past. Several UN members had suggested such action on terrorism, he added.
The resolution would build on a vision set out by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in March on the need for a response to terrorism, British officials said.
Blair said the resolution would strengthen the hand of countries trying to take action against terrorism.
"What it will do is send a very strong signal and it will strengthen the leadership of those countries like Pakistan who are taking tough action now to deal with the roots of this problem, which is the teaching of this fanatical and extremist ideology to young people," he said.
Blair said he welcomed a Pakistani clamp down on madrasas (Muslim religious schools) that foment terrorism. Some of the schools have been accused of breeding extremism.
Blair said there was a balance to be struck between free speech and cracking down on those who incite others to kill.
But he added: "In no democracy is there an absolute right to freedom of speech."
"When you've people who are going out of their way to try and encourage other people to commit acts of terrorism ... that's where freedom of speech ends. I don't think that's being unreasonable or repressive," he said.
Comments
Comments are closed.