President highlights 10 strategies for urgent anti-terrorism fight

President Hassan Rouhani put forward ten strategies to launch an immediate war against terrorism.

Addressing an international gathering on violence and extremism on Tuesday, the president also suggested that December 18 be designated as the World Day Against violence and Extremism.

He said designation of a day to promote a violence-free world will help keep alive the memory of those who have unfairly been killed and reinvigorate the global determination to take on violence and extremism each year.

December 18 marks the day when the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution to vote for a proposal put forth by President Rouhani calling for a World Against Violence and Extremism (WAVE).

He proposed ten ways to promote an instant campaign against violence and extremism in the world.

He said the countries which have initiated, organized and financially supported terrorist groups should distance themselves now from them and stop their direct and indirect assistance to these groups.

He said such groups should also help the victim countries with financial, information and military aid.

He noted that Iraq and Syria have suffered extreme losses due to the assistance provided to the terrorists. Countries which are to blame for such losses must compensate for the damage.

Stressing that terrorists recruit their forces from unemployed and deprived people, President Rouhani underscored the necessity of establishing an international fund to generate jobs and help countries which have fallen victim to terrorism develop.

He also said religious schools should be established with the objective of correcting the wrong extremist and violent notions followed by the terrorists. They should also promote the true image of beneficent Islam in the world.

He pointed to the need for a global campaign to confront misuse of cyber space and social networks by terrorists.

He said countries which are located on the terrorist’s mobility route should have stronger political will and devise better mechanisms to stop easy movement of terrorists.

The Iranian President went on to stress the need for the international community to try to make amendments in the United Nations structure especially in the Security Council and its use of veto mechanism which at times poses serious threat to the global peace and security.

This very mechanism, President Rouhani added, has been quite ineffective and practically paralyzed the international organization.

The inefficiency of the UN Security Council seriously undermines international peace and security, encourages acts of aggression, disappoints victims and paves the way for violent actions, he added.

He urged the international community to resolutely follow up the rehabilitation of the UN which is periodically gripped by paralyzing problems.

He finally hoped that the WAVE conference in Tehran could come up with effective and practical ways to promote the culture of peace and coexistence as well as the spirit of fighting violence and extremism in the world.

President Rouhani opened the two-day WAVE conference Tuesday morning with experts and scholars from 40 countries participating in the event.

In September 2013, during his UN visit, President Rouhani put forward a proposal to the UN General Assembly calling for the ‘World Against Violence and Extremism’. The proposal — WAVE — was approved by the UN General Assembly last December with an overwhelming 190 votes as the WAVE Act.

According to a conference official, no statement would be issued at the end of the conference but instead a directive would be presented based on the address of President Rouhani at the General Assembly of the United Nations in 2013.