Building a regime to counter terrorism:

Democracy, economic stability go hand-in-hand

Keynote address by External Affairs Deputy Minister Gitanjana Gunawardena at the regional workshop for Police and Prosecution Officers in South Asia on ‘Effectively Countering Terrorism’ Colombo recently. First part of this article was published yesterday

The LTTE was one of the most sophisticated terror outfits that had extensive cross-border networks. In the aftermath of its resounding military defeat at home, LTTE activities continue outside among the Diaspora plundering the innocent in fundraising and horrendous propaganda carried out through front organisations and proxies. Efforts are being made to continue LTTE terrorism through seemingly benign forms and manifestations of terrorism. Its efforts to reorganize under the guise of so called ‘Provisional Transnational’ entity is a dangerous move, which if unchecked would create a precedent for other terrorist organisations worldwide. The home truth is that, they are all outfits to re-group the LTTE for its covert activities and should be dealt with accordingly and without delay.

Conveying sympathies to victims of terrorism alone would not suffice. Lack of domestic legal mechanisms as well as inadequacies and gaps in national policies should deter nor delay action to implement counter-terrorism measures.

We need to face up to our collective responsibility for maintaining peace and security. We must recalibrate and galvanize all available mechanisms to dissuade, prevent and combat all acts of terrorism.

In the post-conflict environment, the Government under the Presidents leadership has taken greater efforts to bring economic dividends to the grassroot levels. We have learned that the basic needs of the people, food, shelter and security, take priority. The Government’s aim is to rebuild their livelihoods.

For the first time in long years, the people in the North and East were able to use their franchise to elect their leaders. Democracy, rule of law and institution building go hand-in-hand with economic stability. When social and economic inequalities are addressed, room for inciting terrorism will be effectively curtailed.

When a long established democracy is forced to fight against terrorism to fulfil its sacrosanct duty of protecting its civilians, there will always be unfair and biased criticism levelled against the Government. For terrorists and their sympathisers, what matters is the maximum publicity they can gain and the destruction they can cause through their terror tactics. Hence, the international community has a larger responsibility to approach the involved issues recognizing such reality.

Own model

Every State has an equal right to defend itself against threats to its sovereignty, whether the threat emanates from within its own territory or outside. Hence, there cannot be double-standards or different yardsticks to judge counter-terrorism measures. Also, adequate time and space is required to be given to countries that are recovering from protracted conflicts, to allow them to decide on what best suits the country, in terms of development policies and reconciliation mechanisms.

Democracies do always face the dichotomy of maintaining the rule of law and protecting human rights, when conducting counter-terrorism strategies. Although extraordinary circumstances like threats to national security require stringent measures, it is imperative that those measures are eased out over time when changed circumstances so demand. The recent amendments to the Emergency Regulations promulgated by Parliament in 2005 have been effected recognizing this factor.

This workshop seeks to address effective counter terrorism measures as required by international instruments while taking into account due process requirements. As law enforcement and prosecution authorities from the region you can build trust and confidence in the people from all walks of life, on your work and the ability of the institution that you serve to uphold the principles of equality, justice and fairness. It would be important to provide training for police and law enforcement authorities on human rights education and combating terrorism which would go a long way in strengthening the efforts of nations in effectively countering terrorism.

Synergizing efforts

We in South Asia are among the early regional organisations to adopt legal instruments to combat terrorism. The SAARC Regional Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism adopted in 1987 a range of ‘terrorist acts’ and the subsequent Additional Protocol to the Convention addressed the critical issue of financing of terrorism. In addressing these critical issues, there is a clear need to strengthen the existing legal and institutional framework.

At the 15th SAARC Summit held in Colombo in 2008, the South Asian leaders agreed on a ‘Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty’ (MLAT). The affording of widest measures of mutual legal assistance is an important element in countering terrorism which I am sure will be addressed in your deliberations.

Effective terrorism counter is intrinsically linked to combating other cross-cutting challenges such as transnational organised crimes, illicit trafficking of narcotics and psychotropic drugs, human smuggling, money laundering, illegal trade in small arms and light weapons.

We certainly do have a multitude of legal instruments at international and regional levels, but we need a concerted political will and the practical mechanisms to actively and effectively combat this phenomenon in a coordinated and comprehensive manner, such as through timely exchange of information among law enforcement agencies.

Sri Lanka also continues to play an active role in the UN ad-hoc committee on measures to eliminate international terrorism which has successfully negotiated a series of international conventions on the subject. The United Nations as the organisation with universal representation is in a unique position to implement counter-terrorism measures. Sri Lanka has been actively involved in the negotiations leading up to the successful conclusion of the UN Global Counter Terrorism Strategy.

I wish to emphasize the importance of synergizing UN efforts and other multilateral legal initiatives on combating terrorism through the Counter Terrorism Strategy. Such a comprehensive and synchronized approach is imperative in defeating global terrorism. The Counter Terrorism Task Force and the Executive Directorate have an important role. Your deliberations should focus on comprehensive and cohesive measures of regional cooperation recognizing the similar challenges that confront the region.

Concluded