Your Excellency President Barack Obama,
Members of Security Council,
I would like to thank President Obama for convening this important meeting, whose significance, I hope, will strengthen our collective effort in combating the phenomenon of foreign terrorist fighters, and in fact all manifestations of international terrorism, the reason for our meeting today.
Mr. President,
The international community agrees with the diagnosis of terrorism as an imminent threat that we must therefore make combating it a priority. The peoples of our region have unfortunately paid a heavy price because of this phenomenon. Innocent citizens and civil institutions have been targeted and terror reigns for political reasons.
As I said this morning in the General Assembly, there is no civilization in the modern era that has not had to confront terrorism, whether right-wing, left-wing or religious. It would be a fatal mistake to tie this type of political violence to a single culture, religion or nationality, whatever it might be. It also goes without saying that the transnational nature of terrorism and its use of modern technologies and communications are contributing to the spread of this scourge. That makes it essentially impossible to respond without international solidarity and cooperation among world countries.
In Qatar we consider ourselves an integral part of an international alliance against terrorism. We will tackle it nationally and globally by joining with international efforts.
Mr. President,
We have no choice but to respond at a security level, and even with an emergency military response, given the imminent threat posed by the terrorist groups that recruit and transport fighters and terrorists across international borders. The current state of alert, however, should not make us forget the origins and motives of this phenomenon.
Terrorism should in fact be of a rare, occurrence; it is possible for terrorist groups to control entire populations and areas of certain countries only when the State is absent, creating a political vacuum, or when the State has become an instrument of murder and repression that leaves no room for dialogue, political efforts, gradual reforms or civil change.
There are regimes of terror that are killing their own people, and if our efforts to eradicate terrorism are to bear fruit, we will have to restore such States, which should be unifying frameworks that ensure peace and stability not repression. Terrorism must be fought. We cannot wait for more people to be killed. Terrorism cannot be defeated without a reaction from affected societies, without letting them choose between terrorism and bloody tyranny such as what we are witnessing in Syria; or between terrorism and sectarian exclusion in the form of revenge as in Iraq.
Mr. President,
In that regard, we would make the following points.
- Past experience has shown that military action alone cannot solve such problems. We must work within a framework of political solutions that can open the door to a better future. Violence breeds violence, if it is not part of a comprehensive political solution.
- Whenever politics have credible standards and avoid double standards they gain public support. When civilians are targeted, the response must be the same, regardless of who is perpetrating that violence, be it a tyrannical state, a colonial state or a terrorist group Deficiency should not pervade the international community while thousands of civilians are killed, where it responds urgently in other contexts. There is always some explanation or justification for this, but I fear that such explanations might give this impression to people.
- Fighting terrorism does not give anyone carte blanche to take measures without abiding by the international law, human rights and basic freedoms. Innocent civilians must not be victimized yet again.
In conclusion, we reaffirm our support for all efforts based on an international consensus intended to put an end to foreign terrorist fighters and terrorism whatsoever are its manifestations, motivations or excuses made for it.
Thank you.