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03 October 2001
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United we can take on terror
By KOFI ANNAN
03oct01
THE terrorist attacks against the US, resulting in the deaths of about 6000 people from 80 countries, were acts of terrible evil that shocked the conscience of the entire world.
But out of evil can come good. Paradoxically, these vicious assaults on our common humanity have had the effect of reaffirming our common humanity. The heartlessness and callous indifference to the suffering and grief caused to thousands of innocent families has brought a heartfelt response from millions of ordinary people all around the world, in many different societies.
The task now is to build on that wave of human solidarity -- to ensure that the momentum is not lost, to develop a broad, comprehensive and, above all, sustained strategy to combat terrorism and eradicate it from our world. The shock of this crime has united the world.
But if we are to prevent such crimes from being committed again, we must stay united as we seek to eliminate terrorism.
In this struggle, there is simply no alternative to international co-operation. Terrorism will be defeated if the international community summons the will to unite in a broad coalition, or it will not be defeated at all.
The UN is uniquely positioned to serve as the forum for this coalition and for the development of those steps that governments must now take, separately and together, to fight terrorism on a global scale.
The sight of people gathering in cities in every part of the world, from every religion, to mourn -- and to express solidarity with the people of the US -- proves more eloquently than any words that terrorism is not an issue that divides humanity but one that unites it.
WE are in a moral struggle to fight an evil that is anathema to all faiths. Every state and every people has a part to play. This was an attack on humanity and humanity must respond to it as one.
The urgent business of the UN must be to develop a long-term strategy to ensure global legitimacy for the struggle ahead. The legitimacy that the UN conveys can ensure that the greatest number of states are able and willing to take the necessary and difficult steps -- diplomatic, legal and political -- that are needed to defeat terrorism. Some of the most difficult issues relate to the definition of terrorism. I understand and accept the need for legal precision.
But let me say frankly that there is also a need for moral clarity. There can be no acceptance of those who would seek to justify the deliberate taking of innocent civilian life, regardless of cause or grievance. If there is one universal principle that all people can agree on, surely it is this.
The targeting of innocent civilians is illegal, as well as morally unacceptable. Yet civilian populations are more and more often deliberately targeted. Indeed, civilians have become the principal victims of conflict, accounting for an estimated 75 per cent of all casualties. It is hard to imagine how the tragedy of September 11 could have been worse. Yet the truth is that a single attack involving a nuclear or biological weapon could have killed millions.
There is much we can do to help prevent future terrorist acts carried out with weapons of mass destruction. The greatest immediate danger arises from a non-state group, or even an individual, acquiring and using a nuclear, biological or chemical weapon.
Repairing the damage done to the fabric of the international community -- restoring trust among peoples and cultures -- will not be easy.
But just as a concerted international response can make the work of terrorists much harder to accomplish, so should the unity born out of this tragedy bring all nations together in defence of the most basic right -- the right of all people to live in peace and security. This is the challenge before us as we seek to eliminate the evil of terrorism.
Kofi Annan is Secretary-General of the UN. This is an edited extract from his remarks to the UN General Assembly yesterday
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