Ahmed Mukhtar Naqshbandi
UNITED NATIONS: With extremist groups expanding their reach, the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday urged the international community not to lower its guard against terrorism.
He made the appeal in his message to mark the first-ever ‘International Day for the Prevention of Violent Extremism as and when Conducive to Terrorism’, established by the UN General Assembly in December.
The UN chief called terrorism an “affront to humanity as it undermines the values that bind us together.”
He said terrorism threatens collective efforts to promote peace and security, provide humanitarian aid, protect human rights, and advance sustainable development.
He underscored extra vigilance against terrorism, adding that “terrorist and violent extremist groups were finding fertile ground on the internet to spew their vicious venom.”
UN Chief warns against surging threat of white supremacists
Guterres said Neo-Nazi and white supremacist movements were becoming more dangerous by the day and represented the top internal security and fastest-growing threat in several countries.
He called on countries to take action to confront the challenge through prevention and by addressing the underlying conditions that lead to terrorism in the first place.
The UN secretary-general also highlighted the importance of inclusion and of ensuring that counter-terrorism strategies reflected a wide array of voices — especially minorities, women, and young people, saying that human rights must be at the core of all counter-terrorism policies.
He urged working together to build more peaceful, inclusive, and stable societies where terror and violent extremism have no home.
