the rights of minorities and effective and transparent functioning of the government, as well as fairness to all citizens and their inclusion in policy-making, are the necessary ingredients of a legitimate state. And only when all these ingredients of legitimacy are taken together, can one can expect effective terrorist protection and, more generally, protection against all forms of violent extremism.
There are many aspects of policy-making, ranging from security to the development of the education system, where the legitimacy of state power represents the most important guarantee of its effectiveness. It is important to note that effectiveness in protection against terrorism and violent extremism is best achieved in a preventive mode. Governments should give priority to prevention and non-coercive means of tackling violent extremism. The main emphasis should be placed on citizens, men and women alike. The contributions of educators, thought leaders, religious leaders, community groups and the business community have to be mobilized in an effort to develop appropriate long-term prevention strategies. An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure: this time-tested wisdom applies to the fight against violent extremism as much as it applies to other social ills and pathologies.
Understandably, the emphasis on prevention does not diminish the importance of repressive measures – the police, intelligence services and, sometimes, the military. However, when used, these measures must be proportionate to the actual threat and carried out in conformity with domestic and international law.
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Most violent extremist acts have their roots in entrenched armed conflicts that have been ongoing for many decades. In several parts of the world, and in the Middle East in particular, fighting has turned into a way of life. The flow of refugees has created populations that can become a fertile ground for further violent extremism and for the recruitment of terrorists.
These entrenched armed conflicts must be stopped. An intensified international effort is needed to break the current political and institutional deadlocks that prevent the resolution of these conflicts. Understandably, each armed conflict has its own dynamic, its own protagonists and its own modalities of ending. However, the international community must be able to pull its strengths together. UN member states have endowed the Security Council with formidable legal powers and an unparalleled international legitimacy. At the same time, these assets imply an unparalleled level of responsibility.
The effectiveness of future activities related to counterterrorism and violent extremism will require the reestablishment of the necessary level of agreement within the UN Security Council. In fact, the deteriorating global security, of which terrorism is a part, calls for a serious effort to build a global security compact involving all the permanent members of the Security Council. Such a compact would not have to be legally binding. But it will have to include an understanding of the ways to resolve the most acute armed conflicts of our era, those in the Middle East in particular, the global security fault line.
Countering violent extremism requires action both at the national and at the international level. Individual efforts will not suffice. Collective efforts are clearly necessary. We live in a time that calls for determined multilateral action.
(Concluding Remarks at the Policy Dialogue of the Club de Madrid “Stop Violent Extremism,” held in Madrid on 28 October 2015)
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Notes
1. 1 See Antonio Cassese, Terrorism, Politics and Law, Polity Press, 1989.
2. 2 Andrew Tan and Kumar Ramakrishna (eds.), The New Terrorism: Anatomy, Trends and Counter-Strategies, Eastern Universities Press, 2002.
The Potential of International Law in Times of Crises
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