The Vice President of India, M. Hamid Ansari has said that a peaceful global environment is essential for development and for development cooperation; such cooperation must be undertaken in exercise of the sovereign will of each member of the community of nations.
He was addressing the 17th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit in Margarita Island, Venezuela. The President of Venezuela, Mr. Nicolas Maduro, the President of Iran, Mr. Hassan Rouhani and other dignitaries were present on the occasion.
Following are main points of his speech:
1. The biggest threat to international peace, and to the sovereignty of States, is the phenomenon of Terrorism and no cause justifies the indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians as a means to achieve a political goal or change of policies.
2. Terrorism is one of the most egregious sources of human right violations today, and its use as an instrument of State policy is to be unequivocally condemned as it has become a major impediment to development.
3. The imperative for the Non-Aligned Movement to galvanize the international community to address this menace of Terrorism, including by adopting the draft Comprehensive UN Convention on Terrorism.
4. Urgent reform of the Security Council as part of the effort to make the United Nations fit for the 21st century.
5. We need to establish a mechanism within our movement that will ensure effective cooperation in combating terrorism, that is the main threat to security, sovereignty and development.
6. Describing terrorism as the “biggest threat” to international peace and to the sovereignty of states, Ansari asserted that no cause justifies the indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians as a means to achieve a political goal or change of policies.