Index

8 September 2000

Press Release
GA/9757*



LIBYA CALLS FOR REDEFINITION OF TERRORISM AS MILLENNIUM SUMMIT CONTINUES

20000908

ABDURRAHMAN M. SHALGHEM, Secretary of the General People’s Committee for Foreign Liaison and International Cooperation of Libya: The objective behind the establishment of the International Criminal Court is to punish perpetrators of the most serious crimes against international security. But the Rome Statute is designed to try only the weak. Such a Statute cannot be accepted. It should neither be signed nor ratified unless it is modified in a manner that guarantees the Court will try all perpetrators of aggression, drug smuggling and massacres of innocent people, as well as those who commit aggression against international forces. Similarly, the Ottawa Convention on anti-personnel mines deals only with simple weapons of limited effect. We, who are incapable of defending our lands and borders against the powerful who possess sophisticated weaponry, feel that humanity should focus its attention on the destruction of nuclear, chemical, ballistic and biological armaments, rather than mines.

Terrorism today has assumed many new forms. Sanctions are combined with resort to brutal force. The threat to use such force constitutes a form of terrorism, as do the conditions imposed by the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the WTO. In order for the international community to combat terrorism, it must, first and foremost, define terrorism and the causes behind it.

Distinctions have to be made between terrorism, and people’s legitimate struggle for freedom and struggles by persecuted groups against their persecutors -- also labelled by some as terrorism. There should be compensation for those who fall victim to terrorism and violence. Unless such issues are addressed, the signing or ratification of any international convention on terrorism will be to no avail.