A/HRC/30/64
States. With regard to prevention, the Secretary-General is expected to launch a plan of
action on preventing violent extremism later in 2015. It is aimed at reinvigorating the
universal core values of the international community, based on the Charter of the United
Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and to present concrete proposals
on how the United Nations system and Member States could best approach the challenge of
violent extremism leading to terrorism.
19.
The recent terrorist attacks in Tunisia, Kuwait, France and Egypt further emphasized
the need for States to uphold their obligation to ensure security for those under their
jurisdiction. However, this must not be at the expense of their human rights obligations
under international law. Human rights violations can lead to further radicalization towards
violence, especially of youth. In particular, the rights to the freedoms of speech, association
and assembly should not be arbitrarily restricted, as they are fundamental to helping
societies to combat violent extremism. On 16 June 2015, the United Nations CounterTerrorism Centre organized an online panel discussion entitled “An exit for extremists:
digital solutions for online counter-radicalization”, in which Google Ideas, Facebook and
civil society participated. The panel discussed how to handle online content that called for
violence and how to monitor material communicated through the networks, while at the
same time ensuring privacy, freedom of expression and access to information. The
discussion highlighted the importance of being more inclusive and engaging more with the
private sector.
20.
With regard to victims of terrorism, the international community was urged to
acknowledge that it was often ordinary individuals who bore the brunt of acts of terrorism.
The Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force Office established a portal2 to provide
victims of terrorism with the necessary resources and information, including those provided
by Member States and civil society. The Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force
Office and the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Centre were deeply committed to
ensuring that victims were at the centre of their activities. To that end, both the CounterTerrorism Implementation Task Force Office and the United Nations Counter-Terrorism
Centre had promoted solidarity for victims of terrorism, provided assistance and
rehabilitative services and ensured that victims of terrorism had a voice in counternarratives to violent extremism. The Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force Office
also planned to provide training in order to empower victims of terrorism to be part of
effective counter-narrative strategies.
21.
The Chief of Implementation Support Section III referred to the ways in which
terrorism threatened the core values of the United Nations and represented an assault on the
rule of law, human rights and international peace and security. He emphasized the crucial
role of technical assistance and capacity-building in preventing and countering terrorism,
the need to do more to protect and to take preventive action and the importance of
increasing the capacity of States to ensure human rights and rule of law-based responses to
terrorism.
22.
Terrorism violated the most basic human rights, including the right to life, among
other civil and political rights, as well as economic, social and cultural rights. The
importance of the right to security of person was a fundamental right enshrined in article 3
of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Unfortunately, security was often wrongly
perceived as limiting human rights. He quoted a Tunisian activist, Amira Yahyaoui, who
had recently stated:
2
6
See www.un.org/victimsofterrorism/en.
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents