Lanka calls for international action to stem glorification of
terrorism
Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the UN in Geneva Ravinatha Aryasinha asked
that greater attention be paid in the Global Counter Terrorism Strategy,
to the role of terrorist support networks that take the form of front
organizations, the challenge posed by the abuse of Information
Communication Technology (ICT) and the propriety of the use or display
of terrorist group emblems, insignia and symbols.
He said they communicate the message, purpose, history, and goals of
terrorist organisations and as such contribute to the creation of an
organisational culture of incitement and hatred, that is dangerously
encouraged to be emulated.
Noting that while conscious that there remains a tension between the
concepts of ‘freedom of expression’ and ‘counter terrorism’ with respect
to these issues, it was nevertheless important that these challenges
also be addressed squarely in earnest, in order that we arrive at a
consensus as to where freedom of expression ends and supporting or
glorification of terrorism begins.
He added that our failure to do so, will seriously erode the fight
against terrorism, and permit the perpetuation of the sense that double
standards were being applied with respect to these issues, which turns a
blind eye to the actions of some groups, while pursuing others.
Ambassador Aryasinha made these observations when he addressed the
International Counter-Terrorism Focal Points Conference on ‘Addressing
Conditions Conducive to the Spread of Terrorism and Promoting Regional
Cooperation’, held in Geneva on June 13 and 14.
The conference organised by the UN Counter-Terrorism Implementation
Task Force was part of the CTITF Global Initiative on implementing the
UN Global Counter Terrorism Strategy.
Ambassador Aryasinha said the challenge terrorism poses and the
necessity for international cooperation to eradicate it was fully
understood by Sri Lanka well before the events of 9/11 and the UN
Security Council Resolutions 1373 and 1267, and that notwithstanding the
Government of Sri Lanka eradicating terrorism in the country a little
over four years ago, Sri Lanka had not forgotten the damage terrorism
causes.
He drew attention to Sri Lanka’s experience in successfully defeating
the LTTE which was one of the world’s most ruthless terrorist groups,
and the manner in which the Sri Lankan government had domestically,
regionally and internationally contributed to the building of the
evolving international legal regime relating to countering terrorism and
in meeting its international obligations in this regard.
Ambassador Aryasinha said since the military defeat of the LTTE in
Sri Lanka in May 2009, besides the radicalized activism of LTTE front
organisations in several European capitals, the arrest of 32 LTTE
activists in Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland and the
conviction of a further 28 in France, the Netherlands and Belgium, known
activists continue to advocate mono-ethnic separatism in Sri Lanka while
espousing the ideology of the LTTE, using its money and being
manipulated by its surviving military leaders, who are primarily
domiciled in Europe.
The continuance of the LTTE’s activities and its network of front
organizations in Europe was also manifest in an appeal filed on behalf
of the LTTE to the European Court of Justice on April 11, 2011 for the
de-listing of the LTTE from the EU list of terrorist entities.
While the TE-SAT 2011 report of Europol noted that “Separatist
terrorist groups such as the PKK/KONGRA-GEL and LTTE are involved in the
trafficking of drugs and human beings to raise funds for their terrorism
activities”, the US Global Terrorism Report of 2012 confirms continuing
concerns regarding the LTTE, noting that the “the LTTE’s financial
network of support continued to operate throughout 2011” and that “the
group employed charities as fronts to collect and divert funds for their
activities”.
Recent incidents in Tamil Nadu too are indications of the continuing
attempts by the LTTE to regroup overseas |